Awhile ago I introduced the organization KIVA microlending to Culture Kitchen. KIVA a microlending agency that connects small businesses with small investors like you and me. KIVA works with local partner organizations to find businesses around the world that look promising and want loans to expand. Loans can be a few hundred dollars all the way up to a couple of thousand dollars. Investors like me can put as little as $25 into the pot and KIVA combines these small amounts of money until the loan is filled. They then disburse the money through their partner organizations and keep track as the business pays back the loan. When the loan is paid back you can either take back your money (you get no interest) or you can reloan to another business.

I started loaning to businesses through KIVA over a year ago. And I have felt like my loans have really made a difference to families around the world. I want to share with you one of the amazing success stories I have been a part of and I hope that it will inspire you to participate in KIVA's efforts.  read more »

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Empire Zone brings the latest piece of news from the piece of work that is our State Assembly.

ALBANY — Speaker Sheldon Silver and fellow Assembly Democrats quietly introduced legislation late last month that would grant lawmakers a raise of nearly 21 percent, increasing their base pay to the second highest in the nation among state legislators.

No, this was not announced in a press release.

Of course not.

At the urging of Gov. Eliot Spitzer, also a Democrat, Mr. Silver agreed to hold off on the legislation for the moment, pending the outcome of a fight between the governor and Senate Republicans over campaign finance reform.  read more »

From CNN we find out the true intentions of the standoff with the soldiers from Britain. Publishing fees and CD promotions. Now Bush as more reasons to attack. Not only are they trying to make nukes they are producing books and video that are bad quality. What more do we need to attack? We had a whole lot less for Iraq.

This article should explain:

Iran plans to release a book and CD detailing the arrest and detention of 15 British sailors and marines whom Tehran blames for illegally crossing into Iranian waters, an Iranian military spokesman said.

The book and compact disc are "being prepared and will soon be distributed," Gen. Ali-Reza Afshar said in a written statement.

The British personnel were seized on March 23 while patrolling the northern Persian Gulf for smugglers. They were granted amnesty last Thursday by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who said they were freed as an Easter gift and in respect for the recent anniversary of the Prophet Muhammed's birth.

While in custody, some of the captives confessed on video to straying into Iranian territorial waters. They recanted those confessions once they returned to Britain on Thursday.

In an interview published Monday, the only woman among the detained crew told Britain's Sun tabloid that she feared she was being measured for a coffin while in detention, according to Reuters. (Full story)  read more »

At a time when extremists are increasingly dominating the situation in the Middle East, sometimes it is good to remember the efforts for PEACE between Palestine and Israel.

According to Guysen.Israël.News:

Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas met on Saturday evening in Jerusalem to renew their commitment to agreements signed previously. The two leaders also agreed to work to reach a political arrangement of two states based on the Road Map...Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas agreed on several points during their suprise meeting in Jerusalem on Saturday evening, according to Nabil Abu Rudeina, advisor to Abbas.

For those who want to help moderate Muslims and Jews achieve a lasting peace in the Middle East, what follows is something I wrote back in July that is just as important right now.

Israel, Palestine, Lebanon...all are nations that deserve full recognition and viability. Forget sides. Forget who started what. Forget borders. I am not aiming for a solution. I am aiming for the conditions that will allow a solution to be possible and lasting. I don't care, for the purposes of this effort, who committed what terrorist act or which government is the worse. I care about people, whatever their religion or culture, and I care that people will continue to die if something isn't done. Political solutions from the top have failed since 1948, devolving repeatedly into war. Time for bottom up efforts.  read more »

I have been absolutely horrifed by how the world is decending into chaos, even as our great leader is giving unwanted massages to the German Chancellor, and how so few people can find the compassion and balance to sympathize with Israelis, Palestinians and Lebanese alike. Our world leaders, from Hamas to Kadima to Hezbollah to Bush, are failing. The result is death and chaos. The solution...just may be you and me and a thousand other regular people who care.

Sometime back I began a project that I called an Integrated, Grassroots Development project for East Africa. People responded well to it and one of the beneficiaries was Kiva.org whose efforts to generate microloans to small businesses originally in East Africa, now globally, were greatly aided by the blogsphere. Inspired by this I tried generating interest in a more global effort, which didn't get as much attention. I now want to apply my ideas regarding Integrated, Grassroots Development to the horrible situation in the Middle Easte. If not now, then when? If not us, then who? It is up to us.  read more »