Life, Nature, Society

Today the U.S. marks 40 years since the assassination of Senator Robert F Kennedy, known as Bobby, as he campaigned for the Democratic presidential nomination.

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Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, who was Maryland's first female lieutenant governor, is still moved by the strangers who approach her to describe how her father inspired them. "Not a day goes by that someone doesn't come up to me and say they were affected by my father's legacy in some way," Townsend, now 56, said during an interview this week at a Lutherville coffee shop.

Forty years ago, Kennedy was leaving a victory celebration at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles when he was felled by an assassin's bullets. Kennedy had just won the California Democratic primary for president. He died on June 6, 1968 at age 42. His death shattered his family, people across the nation and a generation of young idealists who had looked to him with hope during a decade of great upheaval. Though shaken, many went on to follow his path. Today, notable Marylanders point to his legacy of social justice, integrity and courage as an enduring inspiration for their lives and deeds.

Robert Kennedy's death came two months after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and five years after his brother, President John F. Kennedy, was slain in Dallas. Tydings, a former U.S. attorney for Maryland, worked closely with Kennedy when he was U.S. attorney general in his brother's administration. Of all the Kennedy memorabilia lining the walls of his Washington office, Tydings cherishes a photo of him and RFK taken during a hearing of the Senate Committee of the District of Columbia. Home improvement operators were preying on city dwellers, remembers Tydings. In the photo, Kennedy is staring ahead, his eyes penetrating. "If you look at him, that's the real Bobby Kennedy," he said. "Really worried about protecting those who needed to be protected; willing to wade in where angels fear to tread. Well, there were not many like him."

When her uncle was assassinated, Kathleen was 12. Shortly after, her father wrote her a letter she has framed and hung in her front hall. It said: "As the eldest of the Kennedy grandchildren, you have a special responsibility to Joe and John and to all the grandchildren and the country. Be kind to others and serve our country. Love, Daddy." "What's interesting and really amazing about that letter is the lack of bitterness and anger and resentment," she said. "What is more compelling about that letter, even more so than 'work for your country' is 'move forward.' Don't choose anger. It is a very strong message."

Now a married mother of four daughters, Townsend lives in Baltimore County. She teaches at Georgetown University, serves on various boards and remains fixed on her father's belief in politics as the highest of callings. "What I was most struck with was his notion of democracy," she said. "His notion that government is not something that does things to you, but for you. He had this wonderful heart, but what he understood is if you are going to have real change, you need to change the laws, you need to change politics."

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Photos courtesy of Twp

Original Source: Baltimore Sun

Footage: Bobby Kennedy's last speech

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CAMBRIDGE - Acclaimed author J.K. Rowling, whose boy wizard captured the interest of countless readers with the "Harry Potter" series, urged Harvard graduates yesterday to use their imaginations to create a better world. In an earnest, personal speech, the British author reminded students that their talents and opportunities carry "unique status and unique responsibilities," and challenged them to use their gifts for the greater good.

"That is your privilege and your burden," she said. "If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice, if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless, if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped transform for the better." "We do not need magic to change the world," she continued. "We carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: We have the power to imagine better."

Recalling her work in her 20s at Amnesty International, where she heard the experiences of political prisoners under totalitarian regimes, the 42-year-old Rowling extolled the transformative "power of human empathy" to forge collective action. "Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation," she said. "In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathize with humans whose experiences we have never shared." "Those who choose not to empathize enable real monsters," she added.

Rowling, who was awarded an honorary doctor of letters degree, also stressed what she called the "benefits of failure," recalling a dark period in her late 20s, that while painful was also liberating. "I was set free, because my greatest fear had already been realized, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea," she said. "And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life."

Rowling began her remarks in light-hearted fashion, quipping that the invitation to speak was not only a great honor, but had helped her lose weight through the anxiety of preparation. "A win-win situation!" she said. "Now all I have to do is take deep breaths, squint at the red banners, and fool myself into believing I am at the world's best-educated Harry Potter convention."

Rowling was introduced by Harvard president Drew Faust, who welcomed "witches, wizards, and muggles of all ages" and, with a chuckle, said she recognized she was merely "the warm-up act." Some 7,000 students received diplomas yesterday morning in a ceremony marked by tradition and jubilant celebrations. Harvard Yard was thronged for the graduation, which featured a lengthy address in Latin and marshals dressed in coats and tails and black top hats.

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Photos courtesy of AP Photo/Lisa Poole and Boston Herald/Stuart Cahill

Original Source: Boston Globe

The entire text, video and audio of J.K. Rowling Harvard Commencement speech can be found online at The Leaky Cauldron.

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Barack Obama, who clinched the Democratic presidential nomination after a historic insurgent campaign, faces a new challenge: uniting the party and responding to growing pressure to choose rival Hillary Clinton as his running mate.

Obama, 46, last night passed the threshold of 2,118 delegates needed for the nomination. Throughout a five-month campaign spanning 54 contests, he shattered fundraising records, and galvanized millions of new voters. Still, Clinton, 60, refused to concede and has put out the word that she is open to a vice presidential nomination. She also attracted important party constituents, such as older women and working-class voters, and won nine of the last 16 contests, giving her leverage as Obama heads into the general election against Republican John McCain.

Although there are indications that Obama isn't enthusiastic about choosing her as his running mate, the Illinois senator reached out to Clinton and her supporters in his victory speech. "Because of this primary, there are millions of Americans who have cast their ballot for the very first time," he said at a rally in St. Paul, Minnesota. "Let us unite in a common effort to chart a new course for America."

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Photos courtesy of AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster and AP Photo/LM Otero

Original Source: Bloomberg

"A simple truth, 'to make sure everyone, alive, makes it home' (as a soldier shouted out), has been debated by many on and on..." Following is excerpt from "He Fell", poem inspired by a true story. Poet: .D. LuCxeed (www.loves-footsteps.com) -
...
To snatch life out of the steel teeth of Death, he fell.
Have you, Heaven’s Grace, heard him?
Jason Dunham, a handsome heart above Hell,
- I want to make sure everyone, alive,
makes it home.

"Son, home is calling you, Jason Dunham."
"Young man, motherland needs you home."
To snatch life out of the steel teeth of Death, he fell,
down into the bosom of somber deserts.
Mourning mountains toll the bell.
...

*music by calpomatt

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Higher food prices may be here to stay as demand from developing countries and production costs rise, says an report by the UN's Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the body for rich nations, the OECD. In its annual Outlook report, the FAO predicted beef and pork prices might be 20% higher by 2017, wheat could be up to 60% more expensive and the cost of vegetable oils might rise by 80%. World prices for wheat, maize and oilseed crops doubled between 2005 and 2007, and while the FAO expects these prices to fall, the decline may be slower than after previous spikes. As well as key factors such as weather, supply and demand and energy costs, speculators are also to blame for making commodity prices more volatile, the FAO says. It is also concerned about the increasing use of crops for biofuels. Looking ahead, climate change may also affect crop harvests, pushing up prices further.

But the hardest-hit by rising food costs will be the poorest people on the planet, where a large share of income is spent on food, the FAO warned. The FAO believes the commodity boom has forced some in the developing world to spend more than half their income on food, particularly those countries that have to import much of their food. But even then, its outlook may be too conservative, says BBC international development correspondent David Loyn, since predicting future oil prices is a near-impossible task. One key assumption made is that crude oil prices will peak at $104 a barrel by 2017 says our correspondent. But as he points out, the price is already well above that, and some reputable analysts are now predicting oil will go to $200 a barrel. And he added that while there may be a drop in food prices in coming years, "there is a sting in the tail. "Prices will level off at a far higher average level than seen before the crisis erupted," he said. "The long era of cheap food is over."

Earlier this month, the FAO calculated the amount of money being spent globally on importing food was set to top $1 trillion (£528bn) in 2008, a 26% rise on the previous year. However, the food crisis could also shift the epicenter of global agriculture from developed to developing countries and the FAO predicts that emerging economies will dominate in the production and consumption of most basic foods in 10 years.

World leaders will meet in Rome next week to seek ways of reducing the suffering for the world's poorest people and ensure the Earth can produce more food to sustain an ever growing population. World Bank President Robert Zoellick underlined the urgency of the problem, announcing $1.2 billion in loans and grant financing for countries struggling with food and fuel costs. 40 heads of state or government are expected at the meeting on Tuesday to Thursday next week. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has set up his own task force, will attend, as will the leaders of France, Spain, Japan, Brazil, Argentina and some African nations. Delegates from 151 countries can be expected to make worthy statements on beating poverty, but the talks may reveal divisions on several underlying food and hunger-related issues: free trade, biofuels and genetically modified organisms.

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Photos Courtesy of AFP

Original Source: BBC News and Calgary Herald

Related Post: 8 Ideas to Fix the Global Food Crisis

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Army soldiers committed suicide in 2007 at the highest rate on record, and the toll is climbing ever higher this year as long war deployments stretch on. At least 115 soldiers killed themselves last year, up from 102 the previous year, the Army said Thursday. "We see a lot of things that are going on in the war which do contribute — mainly the longtime and multiple deployments away from home, exposure to really terrifying and horrifying things, the easy availability of loaded weapons and a force that's very, very busy right now," said Col. Elspeth Ritchie psychiatric consultant to the Army surgeon general. Some common factors among those who took their own lives were trouble with relationships, work problems and legal and financial difficulties, officials said.

More U.S. troops also died overall in hostilities in 2007 than in any of the previous years in Iraq and Afghanistan. Violence increased in Afghanistan with a Taliban resurgence, and U.S. deaths increased in Iraq even as violence there declined in the second half of the year. Increasing the strain on the force last year was the extension of deployments to 15 months from 12 months, a practice ending this year. The 115 confirmed suicides among active-duty soldiers and National Guard and Reserve troops who had been activated amounted to a rate of 18.8 per 100,000 troops — the highest since the Army began keeping records in 1980. Two other deaths are suspected suicides but still under investigation. As of Monday, there had been 38 confirmed suicides in 2008 and 12 more deaths that are suspected suicides but still under investigation.

The rate of suicide continues to rise despite a host of efforts the Army has made to improve the mental health of a force under unprecedented stress from the longer-than-expected war in Iraq and the long and repeated tours of duty it has prompted. Suicides have been rising nearly each year of the five-year-old war in Iraq and the nearly seven years of war in Afghanistan. The 115 deaths last year and 102 in 2006 followed 85 in 2005 and 67 in 2004. The rate of 18.8 per 100,000 last year compared to a rate of 17.5 in 2006 and 9.8 in 2002 — the first full year after the start of the war in Afghanistan. President Bush's buildup of forces in Iraq last year — the number peaked at over 170,000 — led officials to increase tour lengths to 15 months. With a drawdown under way, officials are terminating the longer tours and returning to 12-month deployments.

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Original Source: Associated Press