This week, FCNL released its new policy brief focused on how the U.S. can help to prevent deadly conflict during Kenya's next national elections. With the polls just a year away, preventive action and peacebuilding must be made an immediate priority (rather than left until the potential for violence reaches its peak). In light of U.S. support for Kenya's recent invasion of Somalia, it's time to call for a policy toward Kenya that will help promote peace, not war, before the country's 2012 elections.

While much has been achieved in Kenya since the devastating electoral crisis of late 2007 and early 2008, the risk of renewed violence during its next national poll remains high. Though lasting peace will only come through the continued dedication and empowerment of Kenyans themselves, the policies and actions of the United States and international community directly affect their efforts. Before elections take place in late 2012, Kenya's partners can take concrete steps to establish policies as supportive of and conducive to a peaceful poll as possible.

There is nothing quite like the experience of sitting in a Quaker Meeting when all the smells, sounds, and colors are new. I recently had the pleasure of being welcomed in at Frederick Monthly Meeting in Frederick, Maryland. While I spent many wonderful summers in and around Frederick at Baltimore Yearly Meeting’s Camp Catoctin, I had not the joy of worshipping in the downtown Meeting House. Since moving to Washington, DC, in early September, I had yet to visit a Meeting in the area. When Sandy Robson offered that we might head to Frederick together, I was thrilled.

After passing through a procedural vote in the Senate on Thursday, the so called “China Bill” is getting increasingly more and more attention as it seems likely to pass the Senate. This bill seeks to press the Treasury Department to more readily label countries as “currency manipulators” thereby empowering the U.S. to raise tariffs against imported goods. In a time of economic hardship, this message is a powerful and popular one. It’s the Chinese who are creating this problem, so the story goes, not us.

The tenth anniversary of the U.S. presence in Afghanistan came this past week, on Friday October 7th. I had the privilege of attending a panel briefing hosted by the Congressional Progressive Caucus Peace and Security Task Force. The panel was called “Ten Years On: Why the War in Afghanistan Must End Now.” It was a showcase of opposition to another decade of war by leading experts and members of Congress. The panel was conceived of and organized together by Rep. Barbara Lee’s office and FCNL.

I was impressed by the testimony, at times incredibly heart-wrenching and at times simply brilliant. All of the panelists were speaking truths that I wished all of our lawmakers could have heard. I was particularly impressed by Brock McIntosh, a specialist who has left the Army National Guard with a pending conscientious objector application. He spoke from a strategic perspective, explaining in clear logic why continuing to fight in Afghanistan is completely antithetical to stated arguments for remaining at war, and directly opposed to U.S. and global security. To read more about this panel and to check out the impressive testimonies, click here.

Do you ever have that nagging feeling, right as you’re about to send an e-mail, that something is gravely wrong with it? You’ve read it twice, spell checked it, and generally made sure you sounded like an intelligent human being. So you click send.

In that brief moment, a triumph. And then, the inevitable horrible realization that something is terribly wrong. You wrote down the wrong phone number! You replyall-ed and now everyone is going to get this silly message! You misspelled the person’s name!

Now imagine, this terrifying process being magnified. You work for an organization that has an e-mail list of more than 40,000 people. You’re on a deadline. And you’re sending out complex e-mails about political issues that have variable content modifiers, pictures, and tons of links.

That’s a lot of my job. So if you get an e-mail from FCNL and there’s Oxford commas, misplaced links, or two copies of the e-mail (I did that this morning to the new World Without War list—sorry!) hold me in the light for a moment. I need it.