If you haven’t kept track of the recent workings of the U.S. House of Representatives, then please read this link first.<\/p>\n
When something like this comes up, the human response is to try to understand why. The main question that I end up asking myself and the people around me is:<\/p>\n
“Why when we can’t feed the poor, clothe the needy, medicate the sick, care for the old, educate the young, and protect the earth, do we need to worry about events that happened almost 100 years ago?”<\/p>\n
The answers come in many forms. House Speaker Pelosi (D-CA) continues to tell us that there is never a good time for resolutions such as H.R. 106 to come to the floor. As such, now is as good as ever. Others, including the chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Tom Lantos (D-CA), say that if we can’t brand all exterminations genocide, then our moral authority looks to be compromised when we attempt to take action on situations such as that in Sudan’s Darfur region. There is also the strongly organized Armenian-American community who have spent nearly 90 years with the support of the NY Times and the various historical scholars around the world asking the world to recognize the events as genocide. Organization, and the money that comes with it, often have a way pushing an issue to the front of the docket. However, there are some alternatives that I’ve been thinking about and have dug up in my research that I would like to offer.<\/p>\n
An interesting fact that I found out was that Mr. Lantos is a survivor of the Holocaust. While he was never in a death camp, his views are obviously strongly influenced by his experiences and the losses that he experienced during the war, and there is a strong affinity over this matter between the scholars of Israel and the Armenian people. There is often a quote by Hitler that is attributed to this issue. While the veracity of the quote is contested, it goes something like, “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?” Therefore, these two groups can find a common theme in their experiences.<\/p>\n
A more sinister motive that I suspect however deals with the lack of action by the Democratic leaders in Congress on their promise to end the War in Iraq. Imagine how brilliant it would be if the Democratic leadership claimed that by manipulating the ability of supplies to enter into the Iraq theater, that they could force the troops to come home. By destabilizing all of Iraq, they could make the situation so dire that the very safety of American troops in the region would be questioned. As a result, the war ends, the troops come home, and the Democrats are victorious. If Turkey, who controls 70% of the flow of certain cargo into Iraq, were to close its bases and air space to the United States, and in turn invade the northern portion of Iraq that is autonomously controlled by the Kurds, then this scenario could become a reality. From the article linked above, it is clear to see that Turkey feels the need to have its opinions heard and its autonomy as a nation-state exercised. The result could be devastating for Turkish-American relations, but, more importantly to the individuals involved, devastating to the survival of American troops in Iraq.<\/p>\n
One must ask, can a bullet-less army still be called an army? What will be the fate of the innocents thrown into battle as a result of the actions of these 27 representatives who pushed this bill into the House? Are we selling the basic safety and provisioning of American troops over phrasing in an historical debate? I don’t know. The only answer that consistently comes to mind is – why?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you haven’t kept track of the recent workings of the U.S. House of Representatives, then please read this link first. When something like this comes up, the human response is to try to understand why. The main question that I end up asking myself and the people around me is: “Why when we can’t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[4,13,1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pQyAq-18","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1328,"url":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/2014\/11\/10\/10-days-til-30\/","url_meta":{"origin":70,"position":0},"title":"10 days til 30","date":"November 10, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"This past weekend we headed back to Asheville, and got to spend time with some of my closest, oldest friends. I really miss NC. I haven't made the kinds of friendships out here that I thought I would mainly because I haven't found a way to make everything work. And\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "just thinking out loud"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1120,"url":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/2014\/04\/20\/this-week-in-review-15\/","url_meta":{"origin":70,"position":1},"title":"This week in review","date":"April 20, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"All photos, all the time :-) Well, maybe a little intro. We headed up to Jenner, CA for Easter weekend, and we had an awesome time. No cell phone connection though. On the way back, we got cell coverage for about 100 yards in Bodega Bay where I got a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life Updates"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":915,"url":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/2014\/02\/12\/welcome-james-to-blogging\/","url_meta":{"origin":70,"position":2},"title":"Welcome James to blogging!","date":"February 12, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"My good buddy James (one of the two (or three) James' after which Luka's middle name is derived) has started a blog: 365to30 Documenting the goals he has for this last year of his 3rd decade of life. Everyone should follow, and hold him to it. Some of the ones\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "just thinking out loud"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1117,"url":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/2014\/04\/21\/rainbow-girls\/","url_meta":{"origin":70,"position":3},"title":"Rainbow Girls","date":"April 21, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I always make fun of Saket when he does music posts because it's always some random, obscure artist no one has ever heard of. Well now it's my turn :-) This weekend when we went up the coast to Jenner, we came back down CA-1, and found a cute little\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "just thinking out loud"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":792,"url":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/2014\/01\/18\/aydins-annual-pilgrimage\/","url_meta":{"origin":70,"position":4},"title":"Aydin's annual pilgrimage","date":"January 18, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Every year since about 2002 (for argument's sake. I can't actually remember), my father, Aydin Yardim, and I have met in Las Vegas during CES to ring in the new year; eat at a steakhouse; and get in a show. It's become the one family tradition which is constant and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life Updates"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":244,"url":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/2010\/01\/09\/freedom-for-3-per-gallon\/","url_meta":{"origin":70,"position":5},"title":"Freedom for $3 per gallon","date":"January 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"My only sources of peace lately have come from two sources. The first is the feeling of a late night crawl into my side of a warm bed after a late night hacking session. The second is driving in a car along the Pacific Ocean. I hate driving long distances,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "just thinking out loud"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}