Monthly Archives: February 2015

Israel Needs A Change of Address

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Gaza 2014. Photo via Facebook

Gaza 2014. Photo via Facebook

On March 3, 2015, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address the United States Congress less than two weeks before his re-election campaign in Israel. The invitation from Speaker of the House John Boehner, was extended as a means of creating political divide between the two major US political parties, and has become successful not only in that regard, but also in causing another nation’s leader to become a pawn in America’s political games. Continue reading →

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The Failure of a National Policy

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Photo via Twitter

Photo via Twitter

This week, the Clay Hunt Bill sailed through Congress and has made its way to President Obama’s desk, his signature of approval expected. Long overdue, the bill aims to address the crisis of suicide rates among veterans; currently 22 lives lost every day.

The United States policy toward caring for our veterans is highly contentious. When an individual enlists, they are told they will be taken care of while serving as well as when they return from duty. In reality, this has amounted to life threatening waits for appointments at VA centers, cuts in benefits and a rising homeless veteran population. Continue reading →

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An Even Bigger Drafting Error

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One of the more amazing (and amusing, if we’re to be honest about it) stories in national politics so far this year has been the rise of Scott Walker as a player in the GOP presidential race. We’ve written about him on numerous occasions; the last time we took a look at what he was up to, we compared what he claimed in his inaugural speech to what was actually happening in the state.

A couple weeks ago, another of our crazy neighbors (Representative Steve King from Iowa) hosted the Iowa Freedom Summit. Shunned by the “moderate” GOP establishment, the event was basically an audition for the Iowa primary. Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Donald Trump; the list of potential and pretender candidates speaking was enough to send a shiver of excitement down the typical Iowa Tea Party supporter’s leg. Two speeches attracted most of the attention, though; Sarah Palin’s incoherent word salad that had some of her most ardent former supporters throwing her under the bus, and Scott Walker’s speech. Continue reading →

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As Ukraine Spirals Again into Violence, US Contemplates Pouring Fuel on Fire

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Published on Monday, February 02, 2015 by Common Dreams
by Jon Queally, staff writer
Donetsk airport, once the pride of the city, has been completely demolished. Image via Twitter.

Donetsk airport, once the pride of the city, has been completely demolished. Image via Twitter.

With reporting from the New York Times revealing new consideration by the Obama administration to send $3 billion worth of weaponry and military equipment to Ukraine, concerns over a deepening civil war between the Ukraine Army and the eastern rebel factions who reject the authority of the government in Kiev are rising rapidly.

On Monday, Alexander Zakharchenko, president of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic in the east, has reportedly announced plans to recruit 100,000 men to fuel the eastern region’s ongoing battle with the Ukraine Army, which receives backing from both the U.S. and the NATO alliance.

As fighting intensifed in Donetsk, Vuhlehirsk, Debaltseve and other eastern cities on Sunday and into Monday, the Times reported that NATO’s high commander as well as top members of Obama’s national security team are again discussing plans to send more weapons to the war-torn and divided nation.

Continue reading →

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Tyranny’s False Comfort: Why Rights Aren’t Wrong in Tough Times

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Human Rights Watch World Report 2015

by Kenneth Roth, Executive Director, Human Rights Watch

The world has not seen this much tumult for a generation. The once-heralded Arab Spring has given way almost everywhere to conflict and repression. Islamist extremists commit mass atrocities and threaten civilians throughout the Middle East and parts of Asia and Africa. Cold War-type tensions have revived over Ukraine, with even a civilian jetliner shot out of the sky. Sometimes it can seem as if the world is unraveling.

Continue reading →

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Canada’s War On Activists

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On October 20, 2014, Martin Couture-Rouleau deliberately ran into two Canadian Armed Forces soldiers with his car in a shopping center parking lot in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, killing one soldier and injuring another. Couture-Rouleau was killed by police after he rolled his car while trying to escape.

Two days later, on October 22, 2014, a series of shootings took place in Ottawa, Canada. Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, a 32 year old Canadian, shot and killed a soldier on ceremonial guard duty, and shot at and missed two other guards. Zehaf-Bibeau then went to the Canadian parliament building, where he shot a guard in the foot during a struggle. He was shot and killed by Kevin Vickers, the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Commons.

Stephen Harper. Photo by World Economic Forum - Remy Steinegger [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Stephen Harper. Photo by World Economic Forum – Remy Steinegger [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

The Canadian government was quick to call both events acts of terrorism. Prime Minister Stephen Harper referred to the October 20 incident as an ISIL-inspired terrorist attack in his address to the Canadian people following the October 22 shootings. Interestingly enough, in a poll conducted after the Ottawa shootings, more Canadians considered the shootings an act of mental illness than considered it an act of terrorism. But, we digress… Continue reading →

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Groundhogs Go To Washington

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By Wobbyball (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

By Wobbyball (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons

On February 2nd, 1887, Groundhog Day, featuring a rodent meteorologist, is celebrated for thefirst time at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. America has continued the tradition ever since.

According to tradition, if a groundhog comes out of its hole on this day and sees its shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter weather; no shadow means an early spring or in other words, spring in six weeks.

We could not help but notice a few similarities between groundhogs and the United States Congress. Continue reading →

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Immigration: It’s Really About the Money

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Immigrants on a ship approaching New York City, bound for Ellis Island, with the Statue of Liberty in the background. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

Immigrants on a ship approaching New York City, bound for Ellis Island, with the Statue of Liberty in the background. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

Anyone in the United States can tell you there is an ongoing battle over the issue of immigration, executive orders and guarding the border. They can tell you if they support a path to citizenship for those who have entered the country illegally. They can tell you if they believe the President’s executive orders delaying the deportation of certain qualified immigrants to stay without fear of deportation were illegal or not.

They probably can’t tell you what “EB-5” is, and how foreigners can literally buy their way into the country for writing a $500,000 check that accelerates their path to citizenship.

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) “administers the Immigrant Investor Program, also known as “EB-5,” created by Congress in 1990 to stimulate the U.S. economy through job creation and capital investment by foreign investors. Under a pilot immigration program first enacted in 1992 and regularly reauthorized since, certain EB-5 visas also are set aside for investors in Regional Centers designated by USCIS based on proposals for promoting economic growth.” Continue reading →

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