Some political candidates campaigned last fall with a promise to “Take Back Our Country” and urged states to follow Arizona’s lead in enacting state immigration laws that would fill the void left by a neglectful federal government.The fervor grew intense as they whipped up a lather of fear. Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer talked about headless bodies being dumped near the border with Mexico (which she lat

The fighting in Libya has reached a stalemate: Moammar Gadhafi has proved far more resilient than his adversaries anticipated, and he has also exposed the limits of what can be accomplished by war from afar. If NATO decides to end the standoff by attacking his forces with greater ferocity, there’s only one nation (you guessed it) with the requisite power.This much is evident. What remains unclear

The unhappy marriage of convenience between the United States and Pakistan survived another squabble last week.Pakistan threatened to halt CIA drone strikes against militants in its tribal areas, one of the only effective U.S. tools for hitting al-Qaeda and Taliban operatives based there. Pakistani officials then leaked their demand that Washington sharply reduce the number of CIA and special-forc

We all know that Democrats want to spend more on people and Republicans want to tax people less. But giving someone an extra dollar is no different than taking a dollar less from that person; raising spending is the same as cutting taxes, and cutting taxes is the same as raising spending.Gee, maybe Democrats are closet Republicans, and Republicans are closet Democrats.Of course some spending isn’t

The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has abandoned plans to try several terrorists, including the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, in civilian courts. Instead, it will use military tribunals to administer justice. It is a sad decision. The United States should be leading efforts to show that the fight against terrorism does not require sacrificing the very values that

When I heard that McDonald’s planned to hire 50,000 people next Tuesday, I thought it was a sign of reluctance by suburban kids to enter the workforce by wearing the Golden Arches.I’m one of the many Americans who have worked at a McDonald’s, which puts me in the company of Jay Leno, Carl Lewis, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Andie MacDowell and Macy Gray. But it’s a bigger group than that. Some estimates s

There is no magic wand that will bring down the price of gasoline, which has once again crossed the $4 mark. But there is a long-term solution that will inoculate us from higher costs in the future.The Obama administration can’t do much to lower the price of a gallon of gas, but it is on the cusp of a crucial decision that could help consumers come out ahead because they would need less gas.Offici

Despite the anti-Semitic ranting of Mel Gibson, the public gulf between Roman Catholics and Jews has narrowed during recent decades. It started with overtures from Pope John Paul II between 1979 and 2000, during which time he visited Auschwitz and Jerusalem. After following his predecessor to Auschwitz in 2006, Pope Benedict XVI slammed Holocaust deniers in 2009, then set off on an Israel trip. An

The coming Friday, April 22, marks the first “Saemaul Day” since the National Assembly passed a bill in February to commemorate the anniversary of former President Park Chung-hee’s launching of Saemaul Undong or the New Community Movement in 1970. But actual celebrations will be deferred to May as related authorities feared misunderstanding about their motivation in connection with the April 27 by

The government has set down a policy outline for overcoming the power shortage this summer, which will be inevitable due to the crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. Under the outline, the government will invoke a relevant law, but there will be no planned rolling outages. Efforts to save power on the part of enterprises and households will be crucial.It is esti

Peru’s political system has been ailing for decades. Corruption, violence and deep economic inequalities have left it weakened. Now, the first round of voting in the presidential race, which took place Sunday, threatens to leave the country in critical condition.From a field of five candidates, two emerged as front-runners likely to move on to a runoff election June 5. Both appear wanting in exper