by Zach Carter, Media Consortium blogger

Congress finally authorized an extension of unemployment benefits on Wednesday, providing a critical lifeline to families across the country and an absolutely essential boost to the economy.

Natasha McShane, a student from Ireland, was brutally beaten with a bat in Chicago. In the hospital for 3 months, the medical bills added up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. If the assault had happened in Ireland she wouldn’t have received one bill because they have a national health care system that covers everyone and is funded by taxes. For the Irish, health care is a human right. It is not so in the United States. An assault like the one Natasha survived would result in medical bankruptcy for thousands of Americans, even those with health insurance.

There is a momentous debate occurring among economists that is becoming the equivalent of Ptolemy vs Copernicus and the arguments over the value of leeches in curing the sick.

The Fenian Brotherhood, based in the United States, raided British army forts, customs posts and other targets in Canada in order to bring pressure on Britain to withdraw from Ireland, between 1866 and 1871.

It’s been almost three weeks now since I wrote about the U.S. decision to revoke the visa of prominent Irish anti-renditions activist Edward Horgan, and not much has changed. The revocation came only a month before Dr. Horgan was slated to visit the United States to attend a major conference at Duke University on the battle against the government’s use of extraordinary rendition. What does the Obama administration fear from the presence of Dr. Horgan? If there is fear, it is on the side of those who politically oppose U.S. policies, and see the revocation of Horgan’s visa as political retribution against policy critics.