U.S. seeks seat on UN Human Rights Council

And about bloody time too!

The amazingly qualified Madame Secretary Clinton is right on target on this one. She states in this article on CNN yesterday: "Human rights are an essential element of American global foreign policy. With others, we will engage in the work of improving the U.N. human rights system to advance the vision of the U.N. Declaration on Human Rights."

During my sojourn in the Utah, I was for a time a member of a group called MESJ - Mormons for Equality and Social Justice. You can visit their website at http://www.mesj.org/ - while the Salt Lake Chapter is no longer active, you can still participate with their gatherings elsewhere around the country - heck, if you live in Salt Lake, you could start the meetings again. I met some remarkable people during those years with that group - Suzette the PR person, James, the Union Organizer, John Charles and his partner - now a PhD student and many more. All were committed to social justice and peace in the framework of religion and great religious leaders such as Ghandi, Christ and Mohammed.

The U.S. has for too long remained silent on issues of war and peace - we scream first and ask questions later. We ignore atrocities in Darfur and homelessness and hunger in our nation's soup kitchens. We have tolerated the UN and their missions - witholding our monetary support in order to make certain statements. This will no longer be tolerated.

Madame Secretary recognizes that the U.S. needs to move to the forefront of human rights and seek to teach and help people understand what our role is there.

Here is the link to the article in its entirety: http://sprint.cnn.mlogic.mobi/cnn/ne/politics/detail/275256/full