Leid Stories - 08/30/13

LEID STORIES PROMO -- Friday, Aug. 30, 2013

Hello Casey, here is the promo for Leid Stories today:

Advice and Consent: Decision on Syria Points Up Dramatic Difference Between U.S. and Britain on Democracy

The British Parliament yesterday (Aug. 29) rejected a motion by Prime Minister David Cameron to join an allied military strike against Syria’s Bashar al-Assad for allegedly using chemical weapons in rebel strongholds that have killed hundreds of civilians and injured thousands more in a civil war that has been raging since April 2011.

What is instructive is the process that produced the vote – a vigorous, free-wheeling open debate, with the prime minister alternatively making his case and being called to account, and with equally vigorous challenges from the opposition and splinter parties.

President Obama, his administration and Congress, on the other hand, are contemplating possible U.S. involvement – and have already mobilized the military -- behind closed doors, shutting out public scrutiny of the process.

Leid Stories illustrates the difference between government by the people and for the people and government isolated from and insulated against the people.