"Put not your trust in princes," the Psalmist advises. Friendly Israeli civil servants have given similar advice to Catholics dealing with today’s Israeli politicians. Given the recent history of relations between the church and the Israeli government, it is a counsel born of hard ex

Shortly after his re-election, President Bush said: Hey, were going to reform Social Security, and I really mean it this time. He also wants to move quickly. In mid-January he told reporters that he wants his proposed reforms to be approved by Congress within the first five months of this year. To t

Despite high-profile death sentences like Scott Peterson’s in California, public support for the death penalty is falling. The reasons lie partly in mounting evidence that innocent people have been condemned andin some casesput to death. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor said in

The scandal of torture and abuse symbolized by Abu Ghraib took a turn for the better at the end of last year with news of a Justice Department draft memorandum reaffirming the responsibilities of the United States under the Geneva Conventions and the Convention Against Torture. After a succession of

It struck without warning on working families in poor fishing villages and on vacationing tourists in upscale resorts. The tsunami, caused by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake 155 miles southeast of Banda Aceh, the provincial capital of Sumatra, killed more than 150,000 people and left millions homeless al

The Great Seal of the United States, reproduced on the dollar bill, has a mediocre design but an upbeat message. One side shows a bald eagle grasping in its talons arrows of war and an olive branch of peace. The reverse side pictures an unfinished pyramid surmounted by a great eye that represents di