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Human body parts have become a new cash crop

In a world where the wealthy set the rules of trade, it was only a matter of time until parts of the human body became a hot cash crop. Not only can the rich afford to buy organs from the desperately poor, they also can use “free market” logic to defend the purchases as ethical. From this perspective, it’s a win-win situation in which allegedly equal participants come together. The buyer gets a healthy organ, the seller some needed cash. The roles of the organ brokers and the surgeons are defined as benign, if not downright humane. read more

A TF investigation of South Asia’s garment industry chronicles
globalization’s race to the bottom

Each day, 20-year-old Farida leaves her home in the slums of Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital (population 13 million), and walks an hour to her job at the Dalia Garment Factory. She works from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., sometimes as much as two hours more, and often seven days a week. Like many garment workers interviewed for this article, she didn’t want her real name used for fear of losing her job. For her labor, the young worker earns the equivalent of about $18 per month. At night, she must walk through the pitch black and dangerous streets of a city notorious for its crime rate. read more

Bush’s "Teflon" secretary has built his career on playing it safe

 In the controversy over the half truths and outright lies about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, one top US official has remained above the fray. Yet, it was Secretary of State Colin Powell, darling of the US media, who made the key February 5 presentation to the United Nations that most persuasively outlined the US argument for war.

Then came the revelation: the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), the State Department’s Intelligence Analysis Unit, along with experts from the Department of Energy, had advised Powell that the evidence he planned to use, supposedly proving that Saddam Hussein intended to re-start a nuclear weapons program, was "questionable." The ever dutiful servant of power proceeded away, making the dubious case for invasion. read more

A new anthology diagnoses the disease and explores the possibilities

In its lengthy introduction, Alternatives to Economic Globalization: A Better World Is Possible is described as an offshoot of dialogue among associates of the International Forum of Globalization (IFG). “The immediate priority is to frame the issues,” say the editors, “recognizing that to arrive at a consensus among even a few people – let alone millions – is a far more complex and difficult task than building agreement on what we oppose.” read more

Back from the fighting, a US vet tells all and refuses to serve

Camilo Mejia joined the Army in 1995 to get college assistance and new experiences. Following a three-year hitch, he joined the Florida National Guard, partly for promised tuition assistance at Florida’s state universities. Mejia, a Nicaraguan citizen, had moved permanently to Miami with his mother when he was 18 years old and is a permanent resident with a green card.