Rev. Danny Fisher

Over at The Buddhist Blog, They Call Him James Ure offers a perfect response to the offensive comments of Mike Huckabee yesterday on The View.

Three documentaries that I have blogged about a lot here–Steve James and Peter Gilbert’s At the Death House Door, Scott Hicks’ Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts, and Errol Morris’ Standard Operating Procedure–are among the fifteen films shortlisted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the Best Documentary Feature category for next year’s 81st Annual Academy Awards.

At the Death House Door examines the death penalty issue through the life of Huntsville prison chaplain Carroll “Bud” Pickett, who from 1982 to 1995 accompanied 95 Texas convicts to their executions. Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts chronicles the life and work of modern composer and Buddhist practitioner Philip Glass. Standard Operating Procedure investigates the acts of torture committed by U.S. military personnel at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison. Trailers for each are below. They’re all remarkable films that I encourage you to see.

This from the ONE Campaign:

ONE members got President-elect Obama “On the Record” with historic commitments to fight global poverty and disease. Now, it’s time to get to work turning those commitments into hope and dignity for millions struggling to survive around the globe.

Champions in Congress are writing to President-elect Obama to urge him to request a robust Fiscal Year 2010 International Affairs Budget. This bipartisan letter will be a critical first step in fully-funding the proven, effective and affordable solutions needed to save and improve the lives of those suffering from poverty and preventable diseases worldwide. We need you to call your Members of Congress now and urge them to add their names to this important letter.

You can find the phone numbers of your senators and representatives here. After you’ve made your calls, contact the ONE Campaign here.

Visit http://www.unicef.org/myanmar.

Visit Amnesty International’s page devoted to the humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka here.