Common Ground

Ukraine had the good sense to re-arrange their government last month and to begin anew to repair their battered democracy. The political leader and democratist, former Ukrainian Premier, Yulia Tymoshenko, was released from prison after suffering political persecution practically since the former president, Yanukovich, gained power. However, with the opportunistic taking of Crimea by their eastern neighbor during the turmoil, Ukraine has gone from one crisis to another as freedom reigns in the streets of Kiev and non-Crimean Ukraine after long years of oppression. President Obama should not get our nation involved in another foreign entanglement, and should stay out of it -- pretty much. Giving moral and some economic support to Ukraine is one thing, but risking war with provocative actions is quite another. Among such provocations that Obama should refrain from is using the Ukraine crisis as a pretext to start a revived "Star Wars" program in Poland and the Czech

Every weekend, MSNBC devotes long hours to the hellish conditions in a variety of U.S. penitentiaries on weekend non-news programs  (though, they are to be commended for not ignoring what's going on in these institutions) -- and of course these institutions are putting on their best face when TV cameras are showcasing their particular institution -- but when it comes to their regular news reports, they have the gall to spend more time talking about N. Korea's prisons as opposed to Uncle Sam's.  Not that institutions in the U.S. should be like fraternity houses, necessarily, but if you're going to devote time to other countries' imperfections, at least give equal time to Uncle Sam, who also houses political prisoners.