The following comments were made in testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management.

It isn’t easy to face yourself and see your weaknesses, but sometimes it must be done.

I am standing near the stainless steel doors of Annex One. This is the office complex I work in at the U.S. Embassy Compound. The Chancery is next door. Annex Two is at the other end of the compound.

The complexity of our nation’s economic crisis is truly dizzying. I’m sure a decade or more from now there will be books and volumes of research published about the root cause of this mess. But does anyone know what is the real cause of all our troubles?

You only have to look back in history at the role of women at work to understand the strength and value women bring to the workforce. Think back to 1940, when World War II drove women out of their homes or traditional female work to enter occupations generally filled by men. Jobs once closed to women were suddenly available, and the “gender” roadblock appeared to be lifted.

FROM dairyeditor’s BLOG • April 13, 2009

As I watch the little plants pop through the soil and reach heavenward, I am reminded of the infinite power of faith and the grain of mustard seed.

Dr. Bruce J Bradley, 65, loving husband, father and brilliant scientist, decided it was time to “pursue a more lofty work,” as he would say, after a courageous battle against a brain tumor.

Some of my earliest memories of Bruce Bradley took place when my sons and his sons were involved in Boy Scout activities nearly 28 years ago.

Greetings, from the heart of Baghdad and the International Zone. I write from the third floor of the Embassy Compound Office, which is home to several agencies including the one to which I am assigned: the USDA’s Agricultural Affairs Office that is administered by the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS).