Promoting my town

A Hokkaido travel guide by and for foreign teachers is being revamped. I was happy to write up all the little lovelies of my town.

ONE GOOD DEED: Promote my town in a Hokkaido travel guide.

Release Gaza aid ship!

On the 30th of last month, the Spirit of Humanity, a ship delivering aid to the Gaza strip, was abducted in international waters by Israeli forces. Its aid, including medicine, olive trees, and toys, were confiscated.

I have always found Israel's policy toward Palestinians loathesome, at least as much as the terrorist response it has inspired. Yet the question of U.S. censure of Israeli excess is a tricky one. Israel is our ally, it is a foothold in a region crucial to our energy needs, and it commands sympathy from many U.S. voters. Furthermore, it is doing nothing that we did not do in our nation's expansionist history. To do anything but support Israel would be a strategic blunder. To turn our back on them would be unthinkable--except for the tiny fact that it may be the right thing to do.

Realistically, due to the delicate nature of the situation, our president can only censure Israel in small ways. Perhaps this aid ship situation may be an opportunity to show America's growing disgust with Israeli aggression.

You can sign a petition requesting that the Obama administration demand the ship be released and its mission continued.

ONE GOOD DEED: Sign a petition for the release of the Gaza aid ship the Spirit of Humanity.

More PET bottles at the beach

But at least I didn't get sunburned this time. :-)

ONE GOOD DEED: Pick up PET bottles after enjoying lunch at the beach.

Books for the library

The one vice I have truly indulged in these five years in Hokkaido: books. Amazon has been my drug dealer. I can't believe how many I have to ship home now.

With much pain and whining, I picked out the ones I didn't absolutely need. This ought to double the number of English-language books at the local library!

ONE GOOD DEED: Give books to the library.

Support the Congo Conflict Minerals Act of 2009

Conflict minerals are raw materials mined in war zones. Many components of our cell phones and electronics--particularly tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold--come from the Congo, where rampaging militias use mineral revenues to support their campaigns. These militias are notorious for their use of forced child soldiers and rape as a weapon of terror.

The Congo Conflict Minerals Act is a senate bill that fights such trade. Among other things, it proposes that the US military publish a map of armed groups in mineral-rich areas of the Congo. This would make it easier for industries to avoid conflict minerals and trade only in those unstained by blood.

The bill includes the following measures:

· support for further investigations by the UN Group of Experts on Congo;
· mapping of which armed groups control key mines in eastern Congo;
· development of a U.S. government strategy to address conflict minerals;
· inclusion of information on the negative impact of mineral exploitation and trade on human rights in Congo in the annual human rights reports; and,
· guidance for companies to exercise due diligence. (quoted from here)

Raise Hope for Congo, an Enough! campaign, provides an electronic form letter to urge your senator to cosponsor the bill.

ONE GOOD DEED: Urge my senator (after months of election dispute, at last Minnesota has a senator!) to cosponsor a bill to fight trade in conflict minerals.

Broken glass at the kindergarten

Yikes! Better not let that stay there!

ONE GOOD DEED: Notice the broken glass lying outside the kindergarten before the kids do.

Everybody loves slugs

It had rained early this morning, so there were puddles around. On the way to work I came upon some elementary students marveling at a bunch of slugs. Some of them wanted to step on them or torture them, but I put an end to that.

Who knows if such simple life forms really experience "suffering"? Probably not so much. But what is certain is that we humans need to learn to respect other forms of life.

Being a teacher is not just about teaching your specialized subject, it's also about modeling good character.

ONE GOOD DEED: Encourage students to respect the lives of slugs.