We hope the Reconstruction Design Council set up by the government on April 11 will offer hope and courage to those facing hardship in areas devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake.Through a Cabinet decision, the government set up the panel of experts tasked with presenting a set of proposals on the reconstruction of areas hit by the massive earthquake and tsunami.The 15-member council, head

There are few occasions in life more idyllic than college graduation. Steeped in ceremony, it is the moment of triumph after years of work, a time for parents to beam proudly and gowned students to receive their hard-earned diplomas.However, graduates aren’t the only ones earning something on commencement day. Some colleges and universities are paying exorbitant fees ― not just expenses ― for grad

Once the dust settles from last week’s short-term budget battle, we may learn something important for the long term: What did voters really want last November when they handed control of the House of Representatives to Speaker John A. Boehner’s Republicans?Budget wonks complain that all that recent brinksmanship and fury was over relatively trivial sums of money, less than 1 percent of the governm

What a strange turn of events. Instead of uniting the environmental movement in renewed opposition to nuclear power, the Fukushima disaster in Japan has divided it still further. An increasing number of green advocates, including some very prominent voices, have declared their support for nuclear power as a clean energy option, even as radioactive water accumulates and the timeline for cleaning up

Hey, President Obama has formally announced his re-election bid! I’ve added the exclamation mark to help ratchet up the excitement.It has been a long and difficult slog since Inauguration Day, so I’m going to assume that the looming inevitability of another presidential campaign is about as welcome as the prospect of trace radioactive elements in your milk. Still, attention must be paid. If you’re

Japanese professional baseball’s regular season starts Tuesday as the 12 teams of the Central and Pacific leagues play their openers. The pennant race begins, though belatedly, while wounds from the March 11 catastrophe remain fresh.As the nation faces a difficult time, players are urged all the more to do their best to give hope and vigor to disaster victims and the nation as a whole.Both leagues

The time to disagree agreeably is over for health care policy in America.U.S. President Barack Obama and Congress last week approved a measly budget cut of $39 billion and no tax increases. That leaves us with a massive deficit equal to 9 percent of gross domestic product and a debt-to-GDP ratio that will exceed 90 percent within six years.Our politicians touted this deal as the biggest compromise

Every time I hear Donald Trump talk about President Obama’s birth certificate, I think of O.J. Simpson.The conspiracy theory invented by Simpson’s defenders was every bit as loopy as the fantasies concerning Obama. Remember the O.J. defense ruse?Years before the murder, conspirators would have had to incite Simpson to commit domestic abuse, laying a foundation for a future motive.Several weeks bef

When I was growing up in upstate New York in the late 1950s and ‘60s, people didn’t exercise in public the way they do now. You didn’t see adults jogging, biking or power-walking on the street.Except one. Nearly every day, a middle-age woman of slight build walked rapidly through our suburban neighborhood, usually with her head down. No one knew her name, so we called her the Walker. She usually w

U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, gets it. When drug cartel thugs order mass kidnappings, explode bombs, murder scores of public officials, behead victims or hang them from overpasses, and post signs in border-area cities warning of more violence if they don’t get their way, that’s not mere drug trafficking. That’s terrorism.Finally, someone in Washington is taking action in response to the unpre