ROLL CALL 01/25/12 By Michael Shank and Melissa Powell With last month’s climate talks in South Africa postponing specific carbon cuts until 2020, it is clear that something more than mere nation-state commitments will be needed to counter climate change and reduce global warming. With nations reluctant to recommit to […]
ROLL CALL 11/01/11 By Michael Shank and J.J. Messner With the excitement about Moammar Gadhafi’s downfall beginning to fade, Libya’s new management has begun governing and reconstructing the war-torn nation. Plenty of attention is being paid to the governance angle: Is the National Transitional Council a legitimate, representative body? When […]
ROLL CALL 03/24/10 By Michael Shank Traveling recently on a Congressional staff delegation to Venezuela, my experience was not too dissimilar from my previous experiences in Syria and Iran. This is not to say that I am aggregating these three states into some kind of axis-of-evil or rogue state conglomerate, […]
ROLL CALL 12/03/09 By Michael Shank Last week I went to Afghanistan, not on a Congressional delegation, but on my own. My boss, Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.), is chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus’ Afghanistan Taskforce and has a keen interest in rethinking U.S. strategy in this country. With the […]
ROLL CALL 10/28/08 By Michael Shank and U.S. Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD) On Nov. 4, America will celebrate the close of the most unprecedented presidential campaign in history. On several accounts past precedent has been handily usurped. Most notable: This was our nation’s most expensive campaign yet, surpassing $1 billion […]
ROLL CALL 07/22/08 By Michael Shank Last week’s 47th Annual Roll Call Congressional Baseball Game at Nationals Park, between the Republicans and the Democrats, could not have been more emblematic of the state of American party politics (“GOP Wins Trophy in Nail-Biter,” July 18). That the Republicans won for the […]