Possibilities of DiplomacyFor some observers who take a dim view of the Bush administration’s foreign policy record, the most encouraging aspect of the recent agreement reached with North Korea concerning its nuclear program was the negative reaction of John R. Bolton, the ham-handed former U.

"The shelters are full, transitional housing is very limited, and [so is] permanent housing that is affordable on local transportation routes. Such, according to the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ recent survey of homelessness in 23 cities, is the bleak situation in Charleston, S.C. But what is tr

A Target TongueI am not anti-gun, I’m pro-knife, declared Molly Ivins, extolling the knife’s ability to increase physical fitness: You have to catch up with someone in order to stab him. A straight shooter (despite her professed choice of weapons) with accurate aim, Ivins could also writ

In their accounts of the divine creation, the mysterious opening pages of the Bible twice indicate that the work men and women do is neither a penalty nor a curse but an essential human experience toward which these creatures were naturally oriented even before the Fall. In the first chapter of Gene

The execution of Saddam Hussein roused condemnation by the United Nations and European Union leaders. But this widespread international criticism also cast a spotlight on the use of capital punishment in the United States, where public dissatisfaction has been growing. An overview of the current situation follows.

The Costs of CampaigningWhile the presidential election of 2008 is nearly two years away, the field of aspiring candidates is already crowded. The early start of the campaign provides an unsettling reminder of how costly election campaigns have become. The first index of a candidate’s potentia

Eldest Son of FranceFrance has been a fertile seedbed for some of the most popular Catholic saints: Joan of Arc, Thérèse of Lisieux, Vincent de Paul, Bernadette Soubirous. Lately, though, the eldest daughter of the church has been notable more for the tepidity of its Catholic observance, with Mass

Sometimes a nation ought to pause in order to celebrate a major collective achievement. And the approaching presidential primary season may well be one of those times. After more than 200 years when only one segment of the populationnamely, white, non-Hispanic males who, with just two exceptions, we

Hispanics, Immigration and the WarAbove any other concern, it was the Iraq warspecifically, the U.S. voters’ opposition to the way it was being conductedthat gave the Democrats their Congressional majorities in the November elections. Exit polls showed critical gains among political independen

Fifty-three years ago, the moral issue that most preoccupied the national conscience was not posed by a misbegotten war abroad but by racial discrimination against African-American school children at home. At that time, the 16 states that made up what the U.S. Bureau of the Census called the Souther