America's education system has become less a ladder of opportunity than a structure to transmit inequity from one generation to the next.

If the U.S. wants to help people in tsunami-hit countries like Sri Lanka and Indonesia - not to mention other poor countries in Africa - there's one step that would cost us nothing and would save hundreds of thousands of lives. It would be to allow DDT in malaria-ravaged countries.

Half a million women die each year around the world in pregnancy. It's not biology that kills them so much as neglect.

The conflict in Darfur could escalate to where we're seeing 100,000 victims per month

If one is talking to a finance minister of a poor country, moral arguments tend not to get very far. But if you can argue that their country is going to grow 2 percent faster per year if they can just harness the power of the female half of the population more effectively, that is an argument they consider.

The world spends $40 billion a year on pet food.

Just a little help, a small security force, a bit of food, can save lives