Month / March 31, 2013
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Mr. Smith Threatens to go to Washington
BY SERENA LEKAWA By definition, ‘filibuster’ is an informal term for an attempt to block or slow down a Senate action or bill by refusing to finish debating it. The origins of this quirky tool are not found in the Constitution, but rather in the perversion of a loophole in the Senate rulebook. Originally, the…
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The Enslaved Dreamers: Domestic Migrant Workers in the Middle East
On January 9th, 2013 a young Sri Lankan maid named Rizana Nafeek was beheaded in Saudi Arabia for the alleged murder of her employers’ infant son. There are several key details in this recent news headline which make it particularly shocking. First, at the time of the murder in 2005, Nafeek was only 17 years…
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The Institutionalized Truth: The Mentally Ill Behind Bars
At age fifteen, Armando Cruz stole tools from his neighbor’s garage and was forced into a psychiatric unit while his court proceedings took place. Throughout this time, Armando began to hear voices and paranoia overtook him. At age seventeen, prompted by the voices inside his head, he attacked a police officer. After two years of…
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Orphans in the Crossfire
On the surface, the main news story pertaining to U.S.-Russian relations over the past few months has been Russia’s stomach-turning anti-American adoption law that would bar Americans from adopting Russian children. Americans adopt thousands of Russian children each year, many of whom have disabilities and would otherwise suffer in Russia’s Dickensian orphanages. The law’s populist…
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Arnab Goswami and the Great Indian Debate
BY RAJA KRISHNA If you switch on a television in India at dinner time (8 or 9 p.m. there), chances are that the first sight to meet your eyes will be the face of bindi-ed North Indian actress holding a shocked face as the camera zooms into her gaping, screaming, lipsticked mouth to the repetitive…
