Obama in America and Cameron in Britain have spoken of how their Christian faith influences their approach to shaping society. The US presidential campaign is also skirting church-state issues. How much should religion and politics mix?
My global collection of towel cards tells guests how to be green (and save the hotel money) in a dozen instructive, chic, bossy, relieving, euphemistic, paranoid, minimalistic, and earnest ways.
To see the December protests in Russia as primarily a political wave is to miss a more fundamental leaven at work in Russian society: a moral awakening akin to the American civil rights movement. An early test is Saturday, when a massive protest in Moscow is planned.
Russia under Vladimir Putin sees only a civil war in Syria, justifying its threat to veto any US Security Council action against Assad. But Syria is in a revolution, a shifting of sovereignty.
Italy may find Prime Minister Mario Monti's dose of discipline hard to swallow, but his depoliticized democracy is the only form of government that can move Italy forward. Monti's experiment may also serve as an antidote to the political dysfunction in the West – especially the US.
Negative campaigning is actually an American tradition. In fact, attack campaigning has been around since the beginning without derailing the electoral process. Mudslinging can hardly be called a positive campaign feature, but it is a sign of democracy in action.
Facebook's IPO, or initial public offering, will lead to shareholder pressure on the firm to squeeze profits out of users' personal data. Google, too, faces more scrutiny as it mines user data even more. Privacy watchdogs need to be on the alert.
President Obama errs in pushing nuclear negotiation, writes this ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard. Four US presidents tried and failed. The problem lies in Iran's fanatic ideology. Biting sanctions and US overt support for the Iranian people will bring real change.
As a conservative constitutional scholar, I am deeply troubled by Newt Gingrich's vision for executive power over the courts – even if it is to strike back at liberal judges. Such a seizure of power threatens the rule of law upon which free and equal citizenship is founded.
Chinese residents in the coast village of Wukan rebelled last year and won the right to a free election. The rest of China watches to see if they, too, can demand democracy.
In protest of the Palestinian statehood bid at the UN, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen froze $192 million in funding for USAID programs, including a Palestinian version of 'Sesame Street.' The move has not only jeopardized the show, but US Mideast policy.
Romney was a one-term governor, but he is surely the 24-carat chief executive officer. There are huge differences in skills required to be a successful CEO and a president of the United States. Presidents, for example, have to make life-and-death decisions that go beyond spreadsheets.
President Obama cites the military as a model for politics, similar to the aim of Chief Justice John Roberts for consensus on the Supreme Court. Why are both goals not working?
As Gingrich faces Romney in Florida, he calls 2012 the 'most important election of our lifetime.' Sometimes he compares its significance to the pre-Civil War era. GOP rivals like Santorum and key Democrats like Pelosi are also gasping about the stakes. Time to catch our breath.
Letters to the Editor for the weekly issue of January 30, 2011: One reader takes issue with an op-ed's reasoning on why Americans should rent, not buy. Another points out that the global reduction in war is largely attributable to the union of previous enemies in Europe.
A combative, angry mood hangs over the presidential races, reflecting public sentiments. But below the anger are emotions that do need to be addressed, with a calm debate of policy.
Wind, solar, hydro, and geothermal seem mostly benign -- in part because they are still a small part of the energy equation. But when green gets big, it can be controversial.
Americans expect religious rhetoric from GOP candidates, not quarterbacks like Tim Tebow. That crosses a line into divisiveness. Football brings people together: Your denomination might be Giants or Patriots, but we're all the same underneath.
In the five highest-rated primetime sitcoms (The Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, Two Broke Girls, Two and a Half Men, and How I Met Your Mother), male characters are professionally accomplished, while female characters are unemployed or struggling.
The views on 'what to do with Iran' are heated. Monitor Facebook fans reacted to two recent opeds: '5 reasons the US should attack Iran' and '5 reasons the US should avoid war with Iran.' We've culled some of the best responses here.
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