So we're at it again

Recently, the U.S. engaged in a brief airstrike (excuse the euphemism) and bombed a village in Somalia which had suspected links to Al-Qaida. The Associated Press termed the radical Somali factions as part of a "lawless African nation" in the very first paragraph. It's a bit hard on my stomach to continue with the Western-leaning contortions that pass for "unbiased" journalism. Indeed, the U.S. bombed a government that has resisted through organized struggle UN-imperialist actions - I mean, don't forget, we did bomb them a year ago, under the same pretense of "terrorism" (cf. BBC). Yet, nothing we do seems to stop the growing tsunami of discontent with U.S. Foreign Policy. Just recently, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela denounced Columbia's imperialist actions as promulgating more U.S. imperialism. Yet, this time, Chavez is mobilizing troops against America's pet-regime (Columbia that is). One can only wonder how long the U.S. will tolerate Chavez before labeling his government as having "suspected ties to terrorists"? Anyhow, what is certain with the Somalia episode is that the Somalis have not taken to U.S. imperialism kindly, and some have protested, denouncing the act as one of terror in that four of the eight reported killed were not Al-Qaida henchmen, but innocent children. No doubt, the pentagon will label them as "collateral damage". Sad. Strangely, with the U.S. patroling the "hostile" waters off the coast of Somalia-waters which have linked East Africa to Asia via the Indian ocean in historic trade routes- one can only feel an eerie sensation of preemptive war in the works again. Will the American people ever wake up? Better yet, will the international community ever wake up? Hope so.

Americans Who Are Denied the DREAM

With an astounding number of undocumented immigrants belonging to the largest minority group in the United States, close attention needs to be focused on issues that are important to immigrants. Simply because their vote will count! Throughout the course of the debate, voters and non-voters who are concerned with providing opportunities for immigrants to attain citizenship, will be observing the sentiments of the 2008 presidential candidates on the failed DREAM legislation. This legislation would have allowed children who have grown up in the United States, but are not native to the country, to attain citizenship through either military services or higher educational opportunities. The positions of four of the current candidates are as follows:


Sen. Hillary Clinton- supporter of DREAM Act


Sen. Barack Obama- supporter of DREAM Act


Mike Huckabee- opposes DREAM Act


Sen. John McCain- supporter of DREAM Act

Group Blog Assignment

Each student assistant within Founders Reference Department will participate in a group blog covering pertinent issues surrounding the 2008 Presidential Elections.

You are to choose a topic/issue from the list herein and post, once a week, how that topic is addressed, discussed, debated by the current six presidential candidates via newspapers, campaign and general media websites.

As of today, the current candidates are: Clinton (D), Huckabee (R), McCain(R), McKinney(GP), Nader(I), Obama(D)

Pick an topic/issue:

1 Immigration -- Richardson / Ukaoma
2 Health Care -- Jackson
3 Economy -- Gamble
4 Education K-12 -- Golden
5 Education Higher Education -- Nelson
6 Environment -- Ajala
7 Technology --
8 Domestic Issues (Infrastucture, Employment) -- Young
9 International Issues (National Security) -- Newsome
10 Housing --

Assignment Guidelines
1. Use RSS to track online resources.

2. Posts should be, at minimum 2-4 sentences. Must have embedded links to cited resources.

3. Each post should have labels with (1) your initials, (2) the issue you are covering and (3) the last name of the presidential candidate discussed in the post.