Politicking

First, here's a couple of articles on faith-based diplomacy, which seems to be a topic that's catching interest these days. There's one on BeliefNet by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, also promoting her book The Mighty and the Almighty. There's also a very interesting one on the State Department website, written by Dr. Douglas M. Johnston and presented to the Secretary's Open Forum.
Second- I've been privileged recently to join a local office for the Jeanne Shaheen for Senate campaign as a volunteer/intern. The former Governor has decided to challenge our junior senator, John Sununu for his seat in a rematch election from 2002, and I couldn't be more delighted to do what I can to help her win. She was a solid and popular governor, and did a lot of good things for the state, especially when it comes to education (brought in public kindergarten), health care (she brought my state our version of SCHIP), and the environment. I think she'd be a great senator, and campaigning for her, though a hot job in this summer weather, is going to be enjoyable. I'll write more about the experience as the opportunities arise.
Third- the annual G-8 summit is commencing tomorrow in Japan. The G-8 (Group of 8-- the leaders of the US, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, and Russia) will reportedly be discussing Africa, climate change, and the global food crisis. We'll see if anything comes of this summit. There hasn't been anything significant done of late; here's hoping somebody (or several somebodies) finally take action.