Afghanistan and Pakistan, neighboring states, are both in a precarious situation. In Afghanistan, the leader is Hamid Karzai and in Pakistan it’s Pervez Musharraf. They face huge internal problems. Both have been targeted for assassination. In Afghanistan, the Taliban are regrouping. Attacks are on the increase. Drug trafficking, largely curbed during Taliban rule, is way […]

Gandhi said, “An eye-for-an-eye leaves everyone blind.” None seem so blind toward capital punishment as Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, China and the U.S., the only five countries to withhold their votes from a moratorium on the death penalty. An Amnesty International investigation concluded that the death penalty in the United States is applied arbitrarily and […]

In the years following the 1996 welfare reform act, the media were full of success stories of women on welfare who had given up their dependency and were now hard working contributors to society. Their putative laziness and promiscuity were things of the past. Welfare reform would deliver them to the workplace and dignity. It […]

The political system is largely the captive of special interests and lobbyists who dole out bushels of money. In the old days it used to be called influence peddling. Today it is simply politics as usual. In the din of ringing cash registers the voices of ordinary people cannot be heard. Voters don’t vote and […]