Just six months ago I was not a huge social media user, and never dreamed that Twitter would turn out to be my ticket to the White House.   My coworker Julia Bunting and I were invited to watch the State of the Union address at the White House in a room full of advocacy tweeters, and then participated in a live discussion with senior Administration officials afterwards.  The live “Tweet-Up” was an amazing experience and I wanted to give you a glimpse of the action.

Don Kraus, CEO of Citizens for Global Solutions, was quoted in an article entitled "Rick Perry Puts His Foot In It With Syria Answer" in Talking Points Memo today. Rick Perry, Texas governor and current Republican presidential candidate, stirred controversy by saying that he would respond to the uprising and violence in Syria by imposing a no-fly zone unilaterally, without waiting to coordinate with the U.N. or the larger international community. Kraus called this "gunboat diplomacy" and stressed that it "would leave the United States holding the bag instead of sharing the costs” of such a campaign.

Click here to read the article in full and here to read Don’s op-ed about what action is needed to stop the violence in Syria.

Republican presidential candidates proved once again Tuesday night in Las Vegas that they are vastly unqualified to direct our country's foreign policy. Ron Paul advocated returning to a more isolationist stance during a discussion on defense cuts. Michele Bachmann suggested retaliation against Iran after the discovery of the recent attempt to attack a Saudi diplomat living in the U.S. But at no point of the debate was the lack of foreign policy experience clearer than when the candidates discussed cutting foreign aid.

With the new year beginning, this is the time when Citizens for Global Solutions would normally prepare our Congressional Report Card to rate members of Congress on global issue.  The CGS Report Card analyzes voting records on issues ranging from genocide prevention to nuclear nonproliferation to funding for the international affairs budget.

But this year, we’ve come to the sad conclusion that there isn’t going to be a Report Card.  Why not?  Because Congress didn’t do enough on record last year to warrant one.