MCDOWELL CREEK, Kan. - It is hard to get out of a gilded cage, and that's what we Americans live in when it comes to fossil fuels. We like the cheap food and transportation that fossil fuels provide, and we take for granted the availability of inexpensive products made of plastics and other oil-derivatives. We can't imagine living without comfort and convenience, and so all too often we prefer to see only the glitter, not the bars.

But for many people in the world, the hard iron is all too visible. This discrepancy between what we see and what others see is the subject of Julia Baird's recent essay in Newsweek, "Oil's Shame in Africa." Baird quotes CUNY School of Law professor Rebecca Bratspies: "Problems associated with oil production are usually invisible to those of us who consume vast quantities. We don't see how dirty it is. [The recent spill in the Gulf of Mexico] is a more extreme version of daily events in Nigeria, where the oil companies have had a complete and total disregard for the environmental implications of their actions." According to Baird, what the Nigerians have gone through has not been deemed newsworthy in the West.

SANTIAGO, Chile - I don't suppose I'm unusual in this regard, but I often feel that traveling is the only time I feel really alive. Back home embedded in the rules and routines of life, captured in a web of entanglements, obligations, bills to pay, forms to complete, deadlines to meet, habits to maintain, bores to honor -- it can suck the life right out of you. But when I'm traveling I feel like Jesse James on the run. I know they're going to catch up with me eventually, but at the moment I am two steps ahead of them. I am free.

ELLIS, Kan. - First, I would like to clearly state my premise and reason for writing this piece. I believe it is always irresponsible to forward, publish, or publicly declare material that one knows to be malicious, false, and inflammatory. I further believe that it is also irresponsible to disseminate material that is inflammatory, even if the specific facts contained therein are technically correct, if by omission of some facts and over-emphasis of others, there is clear intent to arouse others to unjustified anger and potentially unjust action. I believe that a weak "small print" disclaimer accompanying such dissemination does not relieve one of responsibility.

A few years ago, at a Memorial Day observance at the Hays, Kansas, VFW, a local dignitary presented a "keynote" speech, in which he declared that we (the United States) had been "at war with Islam" for, at that time, 33 years. He cited a litany of events over the 33 years to "prove" his point.

MANHATTAN, Kan. - On Monday, March 8th President and Michelle Obama celebrated International Women's Day. They were joined by Madeline Albright (the first female US Secretary of State) to mark the progress women have made in the United States and to draw attention to the problems women still face all over the world. Madeline Albright pointed out many struggles women all over the world face and said that while some may claim these are cultural differences and should be left alone, she believes "it is criminal and we each have an obligation to stop it." Michelle Obama pointed out many accomplishments women have made. She also made it clear that this day was not just to honor the famous women who have made history, but the "quiet heroes;" the first women in board rooms, on playing fields and battle fields.

MANHATTAN, Kan. - Noted sociologist Gay Seidman will be visiting Kansas State University to deliver the 10th Annual Donald J. Adamchak Distinguished Lecture Monday, March 8th (International Women's Day) at 7 pm in Forum Hall of K-State Union. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Professor Seidman is the Conway-Bascom Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, director of their African Studies program, and an internationally recognized expert on global production, labor, and human rights. Her lecture, Citizens, Markets, and Transnational Activism: Can Consumer Boycotts and Independent Monitoring End Sweatshops? builds on her recent book, Beyond the Boycott: Labor Rights, Human Rights, and Transnational Activism (Russell Sage, 2007). Professor Seidman has won graduate and undergraduate teaching awards, is a prolific scholar, and has experience as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist.

WICHITA, Kan. - Friends, if you don't think the mainstream media plays a major role in the formulation of American foreign policy, I would politely suggest you are living in denial. If a hayseed from Kansas like me figured out from multiple news sources that the Bush administration was lying about the "Iraqi threat" prior to the invasion in 2003, how could a majority of Americans and Congress members become so thoroughly fooled and panicked that they virtually clamored for America's first-ever "pre-emptive war"?

Today, we know that the Bush administration knowingly issued 935 proven lies prior to the invasion. So, I can only assume that the Bush administration was following the advice of one of the world's most infamous manipulators of public opinion who said, "It is the absolute right of the state to supervise the formation of public opinion ... news should be given out for instruction rather than information."

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Founded in 1987 by Dr. Paul Farmer, Partners In Health (PIH) is an international health care organization that has providing vital health care services in Haiti for more than 20 years and is one of the largest health care providers in the country, working with the Haitian Ministry of Health to deliver comprehensive health care services to a catchment area of 1.2 million across the Central Plateau and the Lower Artibonite Valley.

PIH Medical Director Joia Mukherjee has been working around the clock in Haiti since 48 hours after the earthquake. In a late-night email from Port-au-Prince, Dr. Mukherjee reported an inspiring example of lifesaving international collaboration from the night before. The case of a baby suffering from severe blood loss and in shock was discovered by the Haitian nurse who serves as chief administrator at HUEH, who was rounding by flashlight, with two Haitian doctors who had returned from their pediatric residencies in Cuba to help. Dr. Mukherjee described what happened next...

HAYS, Kan. - People in Haiti continue to sleep in the streets, on sidewalks, in their cars, or in makeshift shanty towns either because their houses have been destroyed or because they are afraid. Thousands have died from injuries and lack of attention for their often very serious medical emergencies. Now, hundreds of thousands of the uninjured residents are in risk of dying of thirst, hunger or exposure to unsanitary conditions caused by the disaster. These deaths can be prevented.

If you're looking to give money to help relief activities, here's a good list of some of the larger, established international aid organizations responding to the disaster in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Most of these organizations, like the Salvation Army and Doctors Without Borders, are already on the ground and actively involved in the rescue and relief efforts outside the airport. To our knowledge, these organizations are not ones that are stymied by the log jam we have been hearing about at the Port-au-Prince airport:

• American Red Cross
• American Jewish World Service
• AmeriCares

• CARE
• Catholic Relief Services
• Direct Relief International
• Doctors Without Borders
• International Committee of the Red Cross
• International Rescue Committee
• Mercy Corps
• Oxfam
• Partners in Health
• The Salvation Army
• Save the Children
• UNICEF
• World Food Programme

WICHITA, Kan. - Let's take a look at two alternatives in the so-called war on terror:

1. You arrest a guy, put him on trial, take testimony from the people who saw what he did, get a slam dunk conviction and put him away until the end of time.
2. You put him into the war-on-terror netherworld, disappear him, deny him access to legal representation, and - what the hell - water board him a few times for good measure. It is now impossible to convict him (impossible solely because of what you did to him) but you don't care about that: your intention is to put him away forever without any kind (or with the most circumscribed kind of) trial, and by the time the courts throw out what you did to him you won't be in office anymore and you can blame the people who have to pick up your mess as "soft on terrorism."

HALF MOON CAY, Bahamas - The final seminar of The Nation's 2009 Cruise featured Narda Zacchino, Patricia Williams, Christian Parenti and William Greider discussing the effects the "War on Terror" has had on the United States. Eyal Press moderated the panel.

Given the events that transpired on December 25th with the attempt to blow up Flight 253, the views and opinions share during this panel, have new and more urgent significance for progressives.

Each panelist was given five minutes to present his/her ideas. After each panelist had made their presentation, panelists were allotted an addition two minutes to respond to what had been said or pose questions to each other.

Christian Parenti, a Soros Senior Justice Fellow and a Ford Foundation Fellow at the CUNY Graduate School's Center for Place, Culture, and Politics, has reported from both Iraq and Afghanistan. He opened by looking at terrorism in context of the conflict in Afghanistan.