The most important part of presidential campaign season is the race for endorsements. With many politicians lining up behind the Ready for Hillary campaign few other endorsements have been heard for the Democrats.
While many have been tepid to endorse challengers to Hillary, Aviators have taken a bold stance and are looking to make a statement in 2016. So if you’re an endorser of Joe get your shades and head to the streets.
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As of January 2015 the Keystone Pipeline project is all but dead.
Via the threat of veto by president Obama, the controversial project has lost the momentum necessary for approval. While the bill has passed the house and will be debated on the senate floor, Mitch McConnell – Republican senate majority leader – does not have enough support from Democrats to get the measure passed and overturn a presidential veto.
This dramatic shift in the potential approval of the project is due to the significant political and economic changes that happened after the midterm elections.
Since the midterm elections president Obama announced a climate deal with China (a significant step by the international community to address the effects of climate change), gas prices have plunged, the job creation the pipeline would offer have proved to be far less than advertised, and environmental activists have gained momentum.
In terms of economic promises of the Republican argument has largely fallen apart. The millions of jobs promised by – now ousted Democratic senator – Mary Landrieu proved to be roughly 10,000. Those jobs were only short term and after the project was completed Keystone would only require 35 long-term employees across roughly 10 states.
While the job creation element of the project still had some strong rhetorical selling points – great for stump speeches on the floor of the house and campaign trail – the Republican message was undercut by the sudden drop in oil prices.
Regardless of the pipeline’s construction Canada is going to drill in the tar sands for oil, but in both scenarios (the construction or failure of Keystone) the U.S. would see no significant change in oil prices because the U.S. is not getting the oil for free. The oil would go through the pipeline and then be sold on the international market where the U.S. would have the opportunity to buy oil for U.S. consumption.
Lastly, environmental activists have won key victories over the fracking industry and been successful in demonstrating the potential irreversible harms fracking can have. With counties in Texas, Colorado, Pennsylvania and California banning the practice there has been momentum that was capitalized when Governor Andrew Cuomo outlawed the practice in December 2014 in the state of New York.
While the decision to wait on legislation until after the midterms did not help any Democrats win reelection or unseat incumbent Republicans the timing of the veto threat has offered a victory for Democrats. By killing the bill the Democrats have foiled a tangible policy of the Republican agenda for their control of the congress.
How long will Keystone remain relevant? It all depends on external economic and political pressures that could change political opinions on the costs and benefits of construction. But unless there is a dramatic change the pipeline will fail.
The next phase is to see what amendments are added to the Keystone bill and see whether any of those have the potential to stand alone and win bipartisan support.
http://keeptapwatersafe.org/global-bans-on-fracking/
http://www.salon.com/2014/11/17/mary_landrieus_keystone_stunt_cant_save_her/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MiIVDUEtJE&spfreload=10
In the fall semester of 2014 the Syracuse Chapter of Nourish International looked to raise money to fight poverty with their campus wide initiative “Paint out Poverty.”
Hosted on Euclid Ave. prior to home football games the organization looks to collect donations and raise money so that the organization can raise awareness and begin to work on new projects focusing on international sustainability.
Haley Kulakowski is the current chapter leader of Nourish International.
“It was a cool way to get people involved and learn about Nourish and also learn about what is happening in places like Uganda,” she said.
The funds raised by Nourish International help sponsor their trip to Uganda to help complete sustainability projects in the region.
For more information you can contact Kulakowski by email su.nourish@gmail.com or visit the chapter’s face page
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nourish-International-Syracuse-University/591106274261543?ref=br_tf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFbWpXywJUU&spfreload=10
Student teacher Caitlin Hunter used the 2014 midterm elections to teach students about the U.S. political process.
With the completion of the fall 2014 semester Hunter explained how public schools in the state of New York use civics to inform students about their role in government and the methods she used to teach the process.
Student teacher Caitlin Hunter who taught U.S. history
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgQfF2zpxwI
The midterm elections are less than two weeks away.
While the president and many senators do not face reelection this year there are still a number of congressional and local races that will greatly affect states and communities across the country.
Voter participation is a critical element to democracy and during the midterm elections roughly 40% of eligible voters turn out to vote*.
Now is the time to research what names and initiatives will be appearing on your state ballot so that when you go to the polls you can make decisions you feel strongly about.
Over the past weekend I got to talk with Diane Dwire who is running for New York State Assembly. Take a listen and be sure to reach out and ask questions to all the candidates running for office in your state.
*http://www.fairvote.org/research-and-analysis/voter-turnout/
Throughout history medical professionals have faced what were initially perceived as unanswerable questions, in identifying, controlling and treating incurable diseases.
Be it the Bubonic Plague, Polio, HIV/AIDS, Ebola or TB, health professionals have faced severe emergencies. In most of these instances doctors and scientists have shown success in either developing treatments or preventing future outbreaks.
Incurable diseases have the ability to incite fear and mass panic when they afflict people on a large scale. However when the distress is minor and extremely rare it takes a long time to promote awareness and raise funds necessary to conduct research.
ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) is one of these very diseases. It is an incurable motor neuron disease that afflicts the nervous system. It is incredibly rare, making it all the more difficult to combat.
When diagnosed the nerve cells in the brain have already begun to deteriorate. This slowly paralyzes the patient by inhibiting the spinal cord. As the disease advances the brain begins to lose control over voluntary muscle movement.
Throughout, the patient does not lose their cognitive functions and remains fully aware of all that is going on around them. They are cognizant that over time the limitations of their body will entrap them.
The disease continues to spread. It takes away the ability to walk and stand, the ability to lift and flex your fingers; it even attacks the vocal cords, leaving the patient unable to formulate the words still taking shape in their head.
Everyone else meanwhile is grasping for answers, but ultimately this attempt just leaves you speechless.
The disease is relentless, and for most only stops spreading when it hits the lungs, leading to respiratory failure.
No one knows what causes ALS. Some scientists have found that ALS patients have experienced severe head trauma at one point in their lives, but there is still not enough conclusive research to assert this claim.[1]
This disease was once foreign but because of the viral success of the Ice Bucket challenge ALS has become well known outside of its nickname Lou Gehrig’s disease. Throughout the summer the campaign has been a huge success by bringing national attention and a massive amount of funding (currently $88 million) to the ALS association.[2]
As the campaign began to spread it began to receive a backlash about the manner in which it was being conducted.
Some participants were donating to other charities, some just wanting to participate in the fun viral bandwagon, (gaining no understanding as to what ALS is) while others didn’t feel the need to donate.
Individuals aware of what ALS looks like in a person cannot help but be conflicted by the ice bucket challenge. It is incredible how successful the campaign has been in both raising awareness and funding. Yet it can be difficult to watch people having fun by laughing and pouring water over their head, talking about a disease that currently has no cure.
Whether you like the advocacy or not, the ice bucket challenge has been a success. It isn’t perfect but it has done something incredibly difficult in a short period of time. It has spread national awareness and allowed the ALS association to raise funds in a manner that will dramatically increase the organization’s capacity.
Those who have lost someone to the disease may be upset by the challenge because it reminds them how little could be done to save the person they cared about. Regardless the disease is still present and while one person’s hope may have evaporated there are others desperate to find a way to keep that hope from slipping away.
The challenge is not for everyone but it has been embraced by the masses and that is something that ALS needs.
[1] http://indianexpress.com/article/world/world-others/what-is-als-and-why-is-the-ice-bucket-challenge-making-headlines-on-social-media/
[2] http://bostinno.streetwise.co/2014/08/26/als-ice-bucket-challenge-donation-total-update-amount-of-money-raised-is-increasing-matt-damon-uses-toilet-water-video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diT3FvDHMyo
The current shellacking of President Obama’s leadership has come from nearly every corner. The American public, the GOP, Russian President Vladimir Putin, former Vice President Dick Cheney and even Obama’s former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.
Yet in all this clamoring one politician has remained completely silent – President Obama’s predecessor, President George W. Bush.
Overall President Bush has been a political hermit since leaving office. His only recent political venture has come from the announcement that he will be publishing a book about his father – President George H.W. Bush.[1]
While some marvel at the former president’s silence others feel it serves as a reflection of his civility and respect for how difficult the job is.
President Bill Clinton, in regards to Bush’s silence on the Middle East said, “I give President Bush credit, by the way a lot of credit for trying to stay out of this debate and letting other people work through it.[2]”
Many agree with President Clinton and view President Bush’s silence as a concession for the mistakes he made during his presidency. However this silence, in a sense gives President Bush a free pass. It gives citizens the ability to detach themselves from Bush’s presidency and lightens the responsibility he and his party bear for his term in office.
By removing the voice of a former president from the national conversation the political discussion becomes one sided. Ultimately it allows for one side to attack the current White House while the White House is left with a void, because the most recent opposition does not have a cohesive message.
If President Bush continues to remain silent it might be best to just pretend that Dick Cheney was Obama’s predecessor. Then we might have an idea as to what the former administration stood for. (And it could be possible that this hypothetical fantasy speaks to the reality of the Bush White House.)
To merely sit and enjoy the silence can encourage citizens to forget about the arguments for “the war on terror” and why the U.S. went to war in the Middle East – an issue that is integral to the Obama administration’s current foreign policy.
Regardless of your political alliance it is important to be cognizant of the entire debate. If President Bush feels he made mistakes as president or of he feels that Obama is on the wrong path then he should vocalize them. Only then will people to have an idea as to what is really happening in the White House.
To silence is to hide, and reality can only be so clear when a side is hidden.
[1] http://www.politico.com/story/2014/07/george-w-bush-book-109621.html
[2] http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/iraq-turmoil/clinton-says-cheney-criticism-obama-iraq-was-unseemly-n139606
Discourses 