Eds and Op-Eds

[TS] Op-Ed Columnist: Waging a War We Could Be Proud Of
by NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
9 Jan 2006 at 11:00pm
If President Bush launched a high-profile Global War on Poverty, it would be one American-backed war that nearly all the world would thunderously applaud.
Op-Ed Contributor: Pilgrims at Heart
by EBRAHIM MOOSA
9 Jan 2006 at 11:00pm
For Muslims seeking to make sense of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, a question arises: Is the hajj only an elaborate ritual?
Op-Ed Contributor: Attention, Medicare Shoppers . . .
by LISA DOGGETT
9 Jan 2006 at 11:00pm
Choosing a Medicare plan is an overwhelming and cumbersome task. But the savings can more than make up for the effort.
Editorial: Wrong on Human Rights
9 Jan 2006 at 11:00pm
John Bolton's proposal for reforming the U.N. Human Rights Commission leaves us questioning his judgment, and that of his bosses in the State Department and the White House.
Editorial: Restoring the Right to Vote
9 Jan 2006 at 11:00pm
Gov. Mark Warner of Virginia should not let political considerations deter him from taking a stand in favor of ex-prisoners' voting rights.
Editorial: Washington Shuffle
9 Jan 2006 at 11:00pm
The only surprise about Tom DeLay's decision to drop out of the House leadership is that it took so long for Congressional Republicans to realize they needed to untie that rope from around their necks.
Editorial: Beyond the Slogans in Latin America
9 Jan 2006 at 11:00pm
In Latin America, no politician is likely to base a run for office on a call for apolitical civil servants. But these kinds of reforms may be the real revolution, and the one that lasts.

washingtonpost.com - Editorials and Opinions

Bombing an Iraqi Accord
by Post
10 Jan 2006 at 12:00am
EVEN AS IRAQ'S political leaders inch toward agreement on a new government, its militants are racing to tear the country apart. In the past week suicide bombers have unleashed a new onslaught, killing more than 200 people in both Shiite and Sunni towns, including 29 in an attack yesterday. Five more bound and blindfolded bodies were found in Baghdad on Sunday, the likely victims of sectarian death squads. U.S. forces, meanwhile, have suffered a grievous spike in losses, with 28 soldiers and civilians killed since Thursday, a dozen of them in the crash of a Black Hawk helicopter. The carnage, combined with failing supplies of gasoline and power, has caused some Iraqis to conclude that conditions in their country are the worst they've been since Saddam Hussein fell. Unless the politicians act quickly, the pessimists will be proved right.
A Mostly Innocent Error
by Post
10 Jan 2006 at 12:00am
THE REPORT LAST week on the FBI's handling of the strange case of Brandon Mayfield exonerates the bureau in important, but not all, respects. Mr. Mayfield is the Oregon lawyer, a convert to Islam, who was arrested two months after the Madrid train bombings in March 2004 when the FBI erroneously determined that his fingerprint was on a nearby bag of detonators. He was held for two weeks, even as questions arose about the identification, until Ouhnane Daoud, an Algerian, was shown to have left the print. The error prompted the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General to investigate.
Certificate of Need? Yes!
by Post
10 Jan 2006 at 12:00am
"VI. CONDITIONS PRECEDENT TO PROCEEDING TO CONSTRUCTION PHASE 6.1. Howard's obligation to proceed with this Project is contingent upon the Council's adoption of legislation approving . . . exemption of the Project from the Certification of Need requirements."
Globalization's Deficit
by Post
9 Jan 2006 at 12:00am
FIFTEEN YEARS ago it was fashionable to pronounce the eclipse of the nation-state. In a globalized world, power would flow to supranational bodies: to the North American Free Trade Agreement, the World Trade Organization and the European Commission, and even to a United Nations freed from the paralyzing divisions of the Cold War. Today this trend appears exhausted. Supranational institutions are not exactly retreating, but they have run out of forward momentum.

Questioning Judge Alito
by Post
9 Jan 2006 at 12:00am
MUCH RIDES on the Senate hearings that begin today on the nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. to serve on the Supreme Court. Judge Alito is not well known in Washington, having spent the past 15 years on an appellate court elsewhere. So for the nominee, the hearings are a chance -- his only chance, really -- to allay Democratic hostility toward his nomination, which has been stoked both by legitimate concerns about his record and by no small amount of fevered and unfair political rhetoric. For senators, meanwhile, it is a chance to try to tease out whether Judge Alito is a traditional conservative of the type who ought to be confirmed or an outlier or extremist who ought to be rejected. The stakes are high, as they always are with Supreme Court nominations and because in this particular instance, Judge Alito would be replacing one of the court's swing voters.
Rethinking in Manassas
by Post
9 Jan 2006 at 12:00am
MANASSAS OFFICIALS have acted prudently by suspending enforcement of an outlandish city zoning law that would prohibit aunts, uncles, cousins -- even great-grandparents -- from living together as a family. In its one-month lifespan, the law, evidently drafted in haste and with inadequate lawyering, has had the effect of discriminating almost exclusively against Latino immigrants, some legal, some not. It has brought Manassas no end of grief and promised more in the form of lawsuits that the city would probably lose. The best option is for the City Council to repeal the ordinance.
After Tom DeLay
by Post
8 Jan 2006 at 12:00am
TEXAS REPUBLICAN Tom DeLay's decision yesterday to permanently relinquish the majority leader's post was necessary but not sufficient for the health of the House majority he dominated for so long.
The Silence in Herndon
by Post
8 Jan 2006 at 12:00am
MAYBE IT WAS just the holiday season. But in the three weeks since a day-laborer center opened in the town of Herndon -- the same center that elicited the wrath of anti-illegal-immigrant forces from coast to coast -- the main vibe coming from the town is . . . silence. True, three weeks is too brief a period to draw ironclad conclusions. But signs suggest that the center has brought calm to a situation previously marked by disorder.

washingtonpost.com - Op-Ed Columns

DeLay's Texas Model
by David S. Broder
10 Jan 2006 at 12:00am
It is hard to develop much sympathy for Tom DeLay, who resigned last week as Republican majority leader of the House, after his indictment in Texas on campaign finance charges was followed by guilty pleas from Jack Abramoff and Michael Scanlon, two of his lobbyist buddies who now threaten to blow the whistle on congressional corruption.
'Hearts and Minds' in Iraq
by Reuel Marc Gerecht
10 Jan 2006 at 12:00am
Once again we are confronted with stories about how the Pentagon and its ubiquitous private contractors are undermining free inquiry in Iraq. "Muslim Scholars Were Paid to Aid U.S. Propaganda," reports the New York Times. Journalists, intellectuals or clerics taking money from Uncle Sam or, in this case, a Washington-based public relations company, is seen as morally troubling and counterproductive. Sensible Muslims obviously would not want to listen to the advice of an American-paid consultant; anti-insurgent Sunni clerics can now all be slurred as corrupt stooges.
What Democrats Miss in Bushonomics
by Sebastian Mallaby
9 Jan 2006 at 12:00am
The Bush-Cheney combo doesn't do humble, but on Iraq it's at least pretending to reach out to its critics. Meanwhile on the economy, the duo has gone into chest-thumping overdrive, seizing the latest news on the housing-fueled expansion to say what brilliant boys they are.
The Path To Energy Security
by Mikheil Saakashvili
9 Jan 2006 at 12:00am
TBILISI, Georgia -- Last week Russia announced that it would halt and then -- not long after -- that it was restarting natural gas shipments to Ukraine. It was a momentary crisis that should have wide-ranging ramifications for the economic security of Europe and raise questions about any notion of a role for Russia as a reliable energy supplier. Russia's arbitrary cutoff sent a clear message to the European Union: There can be no energy security when an undependable neighbor is willing and able to use its energy resources as a weapon in political influence.
Derail These Fundraisers
by Ruth Marcus
9 Jan 2006 at 12:00am
"All Aboard for Joe Barton's 2006 Texas Train Ride," the invitation reads. It is oversized and glossy, printed on the kind of heavy stock that sends the message: This is a Major Event.

Boston Globe -- Op-ed columns

An unpleasant diagnosis
by Michael S. Dukakis
10 Jan 2006 at 5:00am
THE STATE'S BUSINESS COMMUNITY is one of our biggest assets. But some of its leaders don't seem to understand that the state's healthcare system is anti-busineess. Maybe they just don't understand how the healthcare system works. If they did, they would be supporting Speaker Sal DiMasi's proposal for healthcare reform, just like the business leaders who worked with me on ...
If they only had a...
by Scot Lehigh, Globe Columnist
10 Jan 2006 at 5:00am
AS THE 2006 gubernatorial contest starts in earnest, it might well be labeled the ''Wizard of Oz" campaign. Starting on the long winding road toward November, each of the four hopefuls seems to lack at least one important political quality.
Peace -- on a warrior's terms
by H.D.S. Greenway
10 Jan 2006 at 5:00am
I MET ARIEL SHARON 30 years ago when I was making the rounds as the new Jerusalem correspondent for the Washington Post . It was the twilight of the old Labor Party ascendancy, and Sharon was prominent in the opposition Likud that would very soon bring Menachem Begin and his right wing party to power for the first time to ...
Sowing Afghan security
by Robert I. Rotberg
10 Jan 2006 at 5:00am
THERE IS A STRIKING ANTIDOTE to worsening security in Afghanistan, where suicide bombing and convoy ambushes now occur every day. Increasingly, these Taliban- and Al Qaeda-sponsored attacks are linked to opium and heroin trafficking. Afghanistan supplies 80 percent of Europe's heroin and is the largest grower of poppies in the world. Instead of legalizing poppy growing or attempting to eradicate ...
Alito's fantasy world
by Kate Michelman
9 Jan 2006 at 5:00am
IN THE 1998 movie ''Pleasantville," Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon play typical '90s kids who are inadvertently transported into the unreal reality of a 1950s sitcom. They use their '90s values to teach the sitcom world some lessons about diversity and tolerance.

WorkingForChange

Rediscovering democracy
by Byron Williams
9 Jan 2006 at 1:25pm
Time to return to first principles in Washington
Hall of fame hypocrisy
by Cynthia Tucker
9 Jan 2006 at 1:15pm
Public moralizers fail to see how morality applies to them
'06 predictions
by Will Durst
6 Jan 2006 at 1:40pm
What's in store for Bush, Cheney, and Paris Hilton
The life of the party
by E.J. Dionne, Jr.
6 Jan 2006 at 1:25pm
Jack Abramoff: Architect of the modern GOP
Proud to be an American
by Molly Ivins
6 Jan 2006 at 1:10pm
Abramoff sleaze can't touch real gold of nonprofit world

Editorials & Commentary - International Herald Tribune

Marines without armor
10 Jan 2006 at 8:59am
American marines have every right to expect the Pentagon to provide them with the most effective armor available to maximize their chances of staying in one piece.
Bush's rush to appoint
9 Jan 2006 at 12:55pm
President Bush has used the recess appointment power to rescue egregiously bad selections that would never pass muster on grounds of experience and competence.
Recklessness in Indonesia
9 Jan 2006 at 12:57pm
The environmental damage caused by Freeport-McMoRan, an American company that operates a giant open-pit copper and gold mine in Papua, has been breathtaking.
The arc of Ariel
by James Carroll
10 Jan 2006 at 8:35am
What if Europe were so determined to be rid of its Jews that, once Hitler's program fell short, it arranged to settle the surviving Jews into a "camp" where they could readily be targeted and eliminated? Call that camp Israel. Call the instrument of elimination the aggrieved Muslim population for whom the presence of Jews seems an act of blasphemous "occupation" of holy places.
American disdain hurts UN reform
by Peggy Hicks
9 Jan 2006 at 12:57pm
The United States must not squander a rare opportunity to create a new and stronger UN Human Rights Council.

Christian Science Monitor | Commentary

Time is ripe to reform lobbying
The Abramoff case, while an extreme, points to ties between lobbyists and officials that are too close.
The tangled web of lobbyists and the majority party
Lobbying isn't a dirty profession but it often dances on a fine ethical line.
The price of associating with a lobbyist
A deal with Abramoff cost him his job at a think tank and his newspaper column.
Letters to the Editor

Scientists Believe Arctic 'Past The Point Of No Return', Revkin

Global Warming 'Past The Point Of No Return', Connor

NYT > National

More and More, Women Risk All to Enter U.S.
by LIZETTE ALVAREZ and JOHN M. BRODER
9 Jan 2006 at 11:00pm
An increasing number of Mexican women are enduring the risk of capture to come to the United States to work and to settle.
News Analysis: Endemic Problem of Safety in Coal Mining
by GARDINER HARRIS
9 Jan 2006 at 11:00pm
Certain problems are endemic in the coal mining industry: old safety equipment, lax enforcement and a get-along culture.
Growth of National Health Spending Slows Along With Drug Sales
by ROBERT PEAR
9 Jan 2006 at 11:00pm
The growth of national health spending slowed in 2004, mainly because insurers reined in spending on prescription drugs, the Bush administration said.
Bad Blood: Living at an Epicenter of Diabetes, Defiance and Despair
by N. R. KLEINFIELD
9 Jan 2006 at 11:00pm
In East Harlem, an invisible web of diabetes stretches throughout the neighborhood, touching nearly every life with its menace.
Judges and Justice Dept. Meet Over Eavesdropping Program
by ERIC LICHTBLAU
9 Jan 2006 at 11:00pm
The Justice Department held an unusual closed-door briefing for judges on a secret foreign-intelligence court.
I.R.S. Is Sued on Failure to Release Tax Data
by DAVID CAY JOHNSTON
9 Jan 2006 at 11:00pm
Records of I.R.S. audits are being withheld from the public despite a 1976 court order requiring their disclosure.

NYT > International

Ignoring Protests, Iran Resumes Nuclear Program
by ELAINE SCIOLINO and JOHN O'NEIL
9 Jan 2006 at 11:00pm
Iran reopened its vast uranium enrichment complex today, drawing swift condemnation from the United States, Britain, France and Germany.
Bombers Kill 18 in Iraq; U.S. Ambassador Nearby
by SABRINA TAVERNISE
9 Jan 2006 at 11:00pm
A series of brazen attacks in Baghdad continued as two bombers disguised as police officers blew themselves up.
Researcher Faked Evidence of Human Cloning, Koreans Report
by NICHOLAS WADE and CHOE SANG-HUN
9 Jan 2006 at 11:00pm
A South Korean researcher who claimed to have cloned human cells fabricated all his evidence, an investigation found.
Sharon Shows Some Small Medical Gains
by GREG MYRE
9 Jan 2006 at 11:00pm
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was breathing on his own and moving a bit as Israeli doctors began bringing him out of a medically induced coma.
Turks Were Slow to Respond to Reports of Bird Flu, Residents Say
by ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
9 Jan 2006 at 11:00pm
The slow response by officials has helped the disease take hold in the vast eastern reaches of Turkey, allowing the disease to move from village to village unchecked.
Millions of Abortions of Female Fetuses Reported in India
by AMELIA GENTLEMAN
9 Jan 2006 at 11:00pm
As many as 10 million female fetuses may have been aborted in India over the past 20 years as families tried to secure male heirs, according to a study.

NYT > Washington

Legal Context: Focus of Hearings Quickly Turns to Limits of Presidential Power
by ADAM LIPTAK
9 Jan 2006 at 11:00pm
A 1952 opinion on presidential authority seems to have laid the groundwork for the questioning of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr.
From Big-Time Lobbyist to Object of Derision
by KATE ZERNIKE and ANNE E. KORNBLUT
9 Jan 2006 at 11:00pm
Jack Abramoff, former superlobbyist and newly convicted felon, is learning how unpleasant disgrace can be.
Cheney Makes a Morning Trip to the Hospital
by DAVID E. SANGER and LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN
9 Jan 2006 at 11:00pm
Vice President Dick Cheney was hospitalized after complaining of shortness of breath, but he was back at work in the afternoon.
Judges and Justice Dept. Meet Over Eavesdropping Program
by ERIC LICHTBLAU
9 Jan 2006 at 11:00pm
The Justice Department held an unusual closed-door briefing for judges on a secret foreign-intelligence court.
Republicans Urge Restraint in Race to Fill House Post
by CARL HULSE
9 Jan 2006 at 11:00pm
House Republicans who led the call to oust Tom DeLay urged colleagues not to make commitments in new leadership races.
Detainee Case Hits on Limits of Presidency
by LINDA GREENHOUSE
9 Jan 2006 at 11:00pm
An appeal from a detainee at Guant�namo Bay is testing the limits of presidential authority to conduct the war on terror.

washingtonpost.com - washingtonpost.com - US government, national security, s...

Alito on Day 1: 'A Judge Can't Have Any Agenda'
by Charles Babington and Amy Goldstein
10 Jan 2006 at 12:00am
Samuel A. Alito Jr. sought to reassure senators yesterday that divisive policies he once advocated as a government lawyer do not necessarily signal how he would rule if confirmed to the Supreme Court, saying a judge "can't have any preferred outcome in any particular case."
Record Share Of Economy Is Spent on Health Care
by Marc Kaufman and Rob Stein
10 Jan 2006 at 12:00am
Rising health care costs, already threatening many basic industries, now consume 16 percent of the nation's economic output -- the highest proportion ever, the government said yesterday in its latest calculation.
Cheney Released After Hospital Visit
by Michael A. Fletcher and David Brown
10 Jan 2006 at 12:00am
Vice President Cheney was taken to George Washington University Hospital early yesterday morning after he experienced shortness of breath. He was checked out several hours later in the morning and was at his office yesterday afternoon.
NATION IN BRIEF
by Post
10 Jan 2006 at 12:00am
MIAMI -- A Florida International University professor and his wife, an FIU counselor, were accused Monday of operating as covert agents for Cuba's communist government for decades, using short-wave radios, numerical code language and computer-encrypted files to send information about Miami's exile...

Russert Resisted Testifying on Leak
by Carol D. Leonnig
10 Jan 2006 at 12:00am
Lawyers for NBC News reporter Tim Russert suspected in the spring of 2004 that his testimony could snare Vice President Cheney's top aide, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, in a lie and Russert resisted testifying at the time about private conversations with Libby, according to court papers released...
In a New Book, Bremer Defends His Year in Iraq
by Bradley Graham and Thomas E. Ricks
10 Jan 2006 at 12:00am
As the Iraqi insurgency was escalating in the spring of 2004, top Pentagon authorities rejected an appeal for more troops from L. Paul Bremer, the senior U.S. official in Iraq, the Pentagon acknowledged yesterday.
Iran Delays Threatened Resumption of Nuclear Work
by Dafna Linzer and Karl Vick
10 Jan 2006 at 12:00am
Iran's announced intention to resume work yesterday at its main nuclear enrichment facility remained unfulfilled by day's end, in the face of intense pressure from the United States, Europe and the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Over Protest, U.S. Returns 15 Cubans
by Post
10 Jan 2006 at 12:00am
MIAMI, Jan. 9 -- Fifteen Cubans who fled their homeland and landed on an abandoned bridge piling in the Florida Keys were returned to Cuba on Monday after U.S. officials concluded that the structure did not constitute dry land.

washingtonpost.com - washingtonpost.com - world news, opinion and headlines.

Sharon Shows 'Significant' Brain Function
by Scott Wilson
10 Jan 2006 at 8:57am
JERUSALEM, Jan. 9 -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon started breathing on his own Monday and moved an arm and leg slightly after doctors began the process of gradually reviving him from a medically induced coma.
U.S., Other Nations Rebuke Iran Over Seals
by ALI AKBAR DAREINI
10 Jan 2006 at 7:51am
TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran removed seals on its nuclear facilities Tuesday, ending a two-year freeze on work there despite warnings from the United States and other countries concerned about Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
Slanted Press or Slanted Blogs?
by Howard Kurtz
10 Jan 2006 at 8:09am
I was going to lead with Alito, but three hours of senators bloviating and a 10-minute opening statement? Yawn . That's bottom-of-the-column material.
In Ambush Lasting Seconds, U.S. Reporter in Iraq Becomes Hostage
by Ellen Knickmeyer
10 Jan 2006 at 12:00am
BAGHDAD, Jan. 9 -- The call came from reporter Jill Carroll's cell phone, from a young, wary-sounding Iraqi man who said he had just picked up the phone from a sprawled body on a Baghdad street. "The person this phone belongs to was just killed," the caller said.

Five More Turks Test Positive for Bird Flu
by Alan Sipress
10 Jan 2006 at 12:00am
JAKARTA, Indonesia, Jan. 10 -- Five more people in Turkey have tested positive for an often-lethal strain of bird flu, raising the total number of cases to at least 14 since the outbreak was first identified there last week, health officials said Monday. Turkish officials moved quickly to allay...
3 Peasants Sentenced in Riot in China
by Edward Cody
10 Jan 2006 at 12:00am
BEIJING, Jan. 9 -- A Chinese court sentenced three villagers to prison terms ranging from one to five years Monday after convicting them of illegal acts during a peasant riot last April in Zhejiang province, according to attorneys and village activists.
Iran Delays Threatened Resumption of Nuclear Work
by Dafna Linzer and Karl Vick
10 Jan 2006 at 12:00am
Iran's announced intention to resume work yesterday at its main nuclear enrichment facility remained unfulfilled by day's end, in the face of intense pressure from the United States, Europe and the International Atomic Energy Agency.
WORLD IN BRIEF
by Post
10 Jan 2006 at 12:00am
BRUSSELS -- NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer on Monday urged Dutch politicians to quickly overcome differences holding up plans to send 1,400 troops to join alliance peacekeepers in volatile southern Afghanistan.

SFGate: Top News Stories

Marcus Vick Arrested on Firearms Charges
by By KRISTEN GELINEAU, Associated Press Writer
10 Jan 2006 at 6:35am
Former Virginia Tech quarterback Marcus Vick, booted from the team last week for his behavior on and off the field, was charged Monday with pulling a gun on three teenagers during an altercation in a restaurant parking lot. Vick surrendered at the...
First Surgery for Iraqi Baby Completed
by By DANIEL YEE, Associated Press Writer
10 Jan 2006 at 3:48am
The Iraqi infant known as Baby Noor was smiling and cooing after the first of at least three surgeries needed to correct her severe birth defect. Three-month-old Noor al-Zahra, who was born with spina bifida, was "doing well" and was in recovery at...
TWO CENTS / Who does -- and doesn't -- deserve a free parking pass?
10 Jan 2006 at 3:00am
Kent Woo, Outer Mission If anybody deserves a free pass, it's the people who work the terminals at minimum wage. Unfortunately, this type of privilege is often only extended to those of considerable means. Gwen Kaplan, Noe Valley No one. "...
FIRST PERSON / LeRoy and the art of getting editors to work for free
by David Wiegand
10 Jan 2006 at 3:00am
Five years ago, I picked up the phone at the office and said "hello." There was dead but somehow electric silence on the other end. I said "hello" again, and then once more. Silence. After another minute or two, I said simply, "JT?" I can'...
Herring boat leads seabird scavengers into the bay
10 Jan 2006 at 3:00am
A sturdy 40-foot herring boat arrives in San Francisco Bay on Monday accompanied by thousands of birds covering the morning sky as seen from Sausalito. The Pacific herring, Clupea pallasi, is found from Baja California to the Bering Sea. For fish caught here,...
Cheney goes to hospital -- trouble breathing / An unspecified foot condition ...
by Peter Wallsten, Thomas H. Maugh II
10 Jan 2006 at 3:00am
Vice President Dick Cheney spent 4 1/2 hours in a hospital early Monday, but White House officials offered only limited details about what led him to seek treatment. Officials said that Cheney, who is 64 and has suffered four heart attacks, experienced...
Governments pressured to end cycle of hunger / 'There's plenty of food ... Wh...
by Emily Wax
10 Jan 2006 at 3:00am
On New Year's Day, groups of angry Masai herders attempted to drive their emaciated cattle onto the manicured lawns of the presidential residence so their animals could graze on the thick carpets of green grass in the morning sun. With a drought...
Bush not there, but central in hearings / Senators and legal experts look at ...
by Bob Egelko
10 Jan 2006 at 3:00am
The cameras were aimed at Judge Samuel Alito Monday and at the 18 senators who will have the first word on his U.S. Supreme Court nomination. But the center of attention was someone outside the Senate hearing room: President Bush, and his broad assertions of...

SFGate: Chronicle Op-Ed

From the margins of society, a lust for literature
by Mark Schurmann
10 Jan 2006 at 3:00am
Two years ago, while sitting in a cafe in Brooklyn on a cold winter night, I ran into "Chicago Mike." In the crook of his arm he held a thick and tattered book. I asked him what he was reading and he told me it was the "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,"...
Second chances -- College for convicts
by Tisa Watts
10 Jan 2006 at 3:00am
Prison is a great place to get a college education. I was a volunteer at a Bay Area medium-security prison as a tutor and teaching assistant. The prison has an education program that allows a handful of inmates to attend classes for junior college-level...
Black Hawk down, redux?
by E. J. Dionne Jr.
10 Jan 2006 at 3:00am
"YOU CAN only help people if you have sufficient resources and they have sufficient political unity and will to be helped," declared Anthony Cordesman, the well-known military analyst. "And we should not risk American lives without far better planning,...
Mapping New Orleans' future
by Eugene Robinson
10 Jan 2006 at 3:00am
WHEREVER you go in this ghostly town, you hear the against-all-odds determination to rebuild. You hear it from evacuees picking through the remains of the Lower Ninth Ward and returnees in Lakeview wearing masks to keep out the mold and dust; you hear it from...
Culture change for Washington
10 Jan 2006 at 3:00am
COLD-BLOODED politics are on display in Washington this week as colleagues of scandal-tainted former House leader Tom DeLay joust for his job. But a fresh name and bountiful pledges of probity aren't enough. What DeLay brazenly refined -- lawmaking by...
Border madness
10 Jan 2006 at 3:00am
IN A COUNTRY as diverse as ours, there will always be some people pushing such crackpot ideas as building a nearly 1,000-mile fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. But when those ideas are approved by a majority of members of the House of...
Clean up Sacramento
10 Jan 2006 at 3:00am
THE 2003 RECALL of Gov. Gray Davis did nothing to lift the pull of special interests in Sacramento. It merely changed the roster of monied interests that have clout in the governor's office. California legislators, meanwhile, remain a portrait of...
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
10 Jan 2006 at 3:00am
Supreme Court nominees must come clean Editor -- It is important that we insist on more transparent governmental processes. In the recent past, the vetting of U.S. Supreme Court justices has been an exercise in obfuscation and avoidance of anything...

Christian Science Monitor | Top Stories

Freelance reporter abducted in Iraq
Jill Carroll was on a Monitor assignment when she was kidnapped in Baghdad Saturday.
A statement from the Monitor
Official comment on the abduction of freelancer Jill Carroll
Ad war at full blast as Alito hearings begin
Interest groups are targeting specific states and taking to the Internet to make their case for or against confirmation.
ADVERTISEMENT: Mortgage rates as low as 3.95%
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Can you program peacemaking on TV?
A Nigerian television series tries to infuse 'big hug' conflict-resolution into its story lines.
Time has come to kick the Gatorade bucket routine
In our sports blog: creative ways to celebrate.

USATODAY.com News - Top Stories

Senate battle lines drawn as questioning of Alito starts
10 Jan 2006 at 8:30am
The battle lines are clear for Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito: Moderates and liberals want him to repudiate his work for ...
Doctors: Days before Sharon can be fully assessed
10 Jan 2006 at 8:27am
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon showed new signs of recovery Tuesday from a massive stroke, moving part of his left side as doctors ...
Alito vows not to bring agenda to high court
10 Jan 2006 at 7:24am
Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito told senators Monday that good judges don't have an agenda, don't look for partisan outcomes ...
Cheney briefly in hospital for shortness of breath
10 Jan 2006 at 7:23am
Medication that Dick Cheney was taking for a foot problem caused fluid retention that in turned caused shortness of breath, resulting ...
Last funerals for miners planned as probes take shape
10 Jan 2006 at 6:00am
Investigations were called into both the Sago Mine disaster and overall national mining safety as the state prepared to say farewell ...
Iran resumes research into nuclear fuel
10 Jan 2006 at 7:59am
Iran removed seals on its nuclear facilities Tuesday, allowing work to resume despite warnings from countries concerned about ...
Will the Dow hang on this time?
10 Jan 2006 at 4:01am
What's an investor to do now that the Dow is back above 11,000 for the first time in 4 years? Dig out the moth-infested rally ...
New Orleans universities seeing real homecoming
10 Jan 2006 at 7:14am
More than 30,000 students will return to four-year colleges in New Orleans this semester after a fall term that wasn't. Total ...

USATODAY.com Washington - Top Stories

Senate battle lines drawn as questioning of Alito starts
10 Jan 2006 at 8:30am
The battle lines are clear for Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito: Moderates and liberals want him to repudiate his work for ...
Alito vows not to bring agenda to high court
10 Jan 2006 at 7:24am
Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito told senators Monday that good judges don't have an agenda, don't look for partisan outcomes ...
Cheney briefly in hospital for shortness of breath
10 Jan 2006 at 7:23am
Medication that Dick Cheney was taking for a foot problem caused fluid retention that in turned caused shortness of breath, resulting ...
In Congress, 'we simply have too much power'
9 Jan 2006 at 11:37pm
In 1980, a House member got caught on videotape stuffing cash into his pockets, one of five lawmakers snared in the Abscam FBI ...
Most consider lobbying scandal a big deal, poll shows
9 Jan 2006 at 11:16pm
Americans are paying close attention to the lobbying scandal in the Capitol and say corruption in government will play a big ...
Army tossing out some disobedient reservists
9 Jan 2006 at 6:11pm
The Army on Monday began moves to expel dozens of reserve soldiers who failed to report for duty months after being mobilized ...
Texas court won't dismiss DeLay charges
9 Jan 2006 at 4:09pm
The state's highest criminal court on Monday denied Rep. Tom DeLay's request that the money laundering charges against him be ...
Justice Department reopens after brief evacuation
9 Jan 2006 at 9:54am
The Justice Department was briefly evacuated Monday during rush hour because of a suspicious package on a nearby bus.