Politics & Issues

US policy in the Middle East should take note of the nation that is becoming the first democracy in the region – and it’s not Iraq.

As massive protests in Tahir Square and elsewhere in Egypt call for President Hosni Mubarak to step down from a 30-year reign marked largely by autocratic power, the West, in particular the U.S. appears to be stuck in thought about what to say, who to support, and what decisive action it should or should not take. One reporter’s view.

Legislators consider punishment as a means to boost test scores.

In her film, “We Will not be Silenced,” life-long Democrat Gigi Gaston illustrates how elections fraught with voter intimidation and fraud often make winners out of losers. Such, she argues was the case when DNC laws were not followed and Barack Obama became the illegitimate Democratic nominee when, the hands-down winner was Hillary Clinton. Not much has changed since and the winner is certainly not the American voter.

When he became the first African American President of the U.S. Barack Obama pledged to unite the nation. But two years later, America is even more divided. Wondering whether the over 63,000 students who became part of a political grassroots effort to get him elected are disillusioned with the inability to find a job (unemployment hovers just below 10% with no improvement in sight) and the mandatory purchase of healthcare after age 26. Let us know what you think.

U.S. empowered local sheikhs to maintain security. What happens to these “Don Corleones” when troops withdraw?

This Voices’ reporter argues we need to spend billions more to stimulate consumerism thereby getting the economy back on the road to real recovery.

400 blood samples supposedly collected to research causes of diabetes in the Havasupai Indian tribe were used for other purposes. Lessons learned?

80,000 lives were instantly lost on August 6, 1945 when the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Miraculously, 1.8 kilometers from the epicenter of the bombing, a piano survived. Today the Hibaku Piano (as it is called in Japanese) is featured in concerts devoted to delivering messages of peace and hope for the future – serving as a symbol of our shared humanity.

Was President Obama’s swim in the Gulf last weekend enough to convince the public that the water is clear of oil and dispersants, the fish safe to eat and the images of the BP oil spill we’ve seen since April, old news? The owners of New Orleans’ oldest continually operating oyster processor and distributor in the country, P&J Oyster Company hope so. Ironically, government’s six month moratorium on offshore drilling also continues to threaten Gulf fishermen.