Cable TV, the right way

America's 100 million cable and satellite subscribers are forced to pay ever-higher bills for a growing number of channels they do not watch. The American people are being ripped off. | 05/24/13 08:11:40 By - By JOHN MCCAIN

Gina Barreca: Anthony Weiner � we've seen enough of you

Anthony Weiner, I'm looking at you, so stop tweeting for a minute and put the cameras away. Mark Sanford, I don't care if you won, you should listen, too. And so should anybody else running for office, because I'm about to explain The Five Rules Candidates Should Follow. | 05/24/13 08:11:40 By - By GINA BARRECA

Apple showdown with Congress shows need for corporate tax reform

The following editorial appeared in the San Jose Mercury News on Thursday, May 23: | 05/24/13 08:11:40 By -

Finally, Obama breaks his silence on drones

Over the last four years, there has been a strange irony. One of the greatest speakers of our era has largely kept silent about one of the signature aspects of his presidency. | 05/23/13 11:36:19 By - By PETER W. SINGER

Gregory Clay: The Sheryl Sandberg effect � Lean In or Lean Out

Sheryl Sandberg created a national firestorm earlier this year when she said women should "Lean In" aggressively to maximize their careers. The $64,000 question, though, is how realistic is that for most women? | 05/23/13 09:56:19 By - By GREGORY CLAY

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his fangirls

OK, so Dzhokhar Tsarnaev stands accused of blowing up three people, injuring 282 more and shooting to death an MIT campus police officer. He's also got fans, or more accurately, he's got fangirls, thousands of them. | 05/23/13 08:11:50 By - By CHARLOTTE ALLEN

Media must do more to help find missing children

May 25 is National Missing Children Day. | 05/23/13 08:11:50 By - By JULEYKA LANTIGUA-WILLIAMS

Gregory Clay: The Sheryl Sandberg effect � Lean In or Lean Out

Sheryl Sandberg created a national firestorm earlier this year when she said women should "Lean In" aggressively to maximize their careers. The $64,000 question, though, is how realistic is that for most women? | 05/23/13 08:11:50 By - By GREGORY CLAY

Bob Ray Sanders: Maybe some good things will come from all the 'scandals'

The storm clouds of "scandal," like a breakout of springtime tornadoes in the South and Midwest, seem to be encircling the White House with the president having no "safe room" into which to retreat. | 05/23/13 08:11:50 By - By BOB RAY SANDERS

Boy Scouts' new policy on gays only perpetuates the same toxic message

At age 19, when I was an assistant scoutmaster, I was expelled from the Boy Scouts of America for being gay. The very group that had taught me the value of self-respect since I was 8 years old now told me that there was something fundamentally wrong with who I was, and am. Confronting institutional discrimination for the first time, I was overwhelmed with sadness, grief and anger. | 05/23/13 08:11:50 By - By JAMES DALE

NRA draws wrong conclusions from Boston

In the days and weeks after the Boston Marathon bombings, the National Rifle Association has repeatedly stated that many Bostonians who did not possess guns probably wished that they had them in their homes during the tense "shelter in place" manhunt. That statement is in large part a straw-man argument. Much of what occurred during those unfortunate days disproves the NRA's usual narrative about guns and public safety. | 05/23/13 08:11:50 By - By DAVID W. WISE

Michael Hiltzik: Why the medical device tax needs to stay

The chief drawback of a law as complex as the Affordable Care Act, the health insurance reform measure passed in 2010, is that it provides self-interested opponents a multitude of places to stick a wedge in and hammer away. | 05/23/13 08:11:50 By - By MICHAEL HILTZIK

Shrink resistant: That's what sequestration is to the budget deficit

The following editorial appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News on Monday, May 20: | 05/23/13 08:11:50 By -

A birth control double standard

In the uproar about making the morning-after contraceptive known as Plan B available to our daughters, there has been no similar outcry about condoms and our sons. Anyone of any age can walk into a drugstore - as well as most grocery and big-box stores - and buy condoms. If you want to remain anonymous, you can pay cash; no ID is required. If you're too embarrassed to face the checkout clerk, use the self-check aisle or, for $17.97, get a box of 100 - flavored or with "added sensations," even - delivered to your door in a plain brown box. | 05/23/13 08:11:50 By - By MEG WAITE CLAYTON

Boy Scouts' vote on gay members toughest challenge yet

The following editorial appeared in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Wednesday, May 22: | 05/23/13 08:11:50 By -

Doyle McManus: Obama's IRS choice

Message to the president: Resistance is futile. | 05/23/13 08:11:50 By - By DOYLE MCMANUS

Life and death in Tornado Alley

The following editorial appeared in the Chicago Tribune on Wednesday, May 22: | 05/23/13 03:11:36 By -

John Kass: Tornadoes sound like eerie silence -- then evil

Does a killer tornado really sound like a freight train? | 05/23/13 03:11:36 By - By JOHN KASS

Right now, focus is where it should be: on the victims

The following editorial appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Wednesday, May 22: | 05/22/13 11:07:46 By -

The can-do spirit rises after Oklahoma tornado

The following editorial appeared in the Kansas City Star on Wednesday, May 22: | 05/22/13 11:02:46 By -

Immigration: A wider better welcome mat

As an immigrant and an engineer, I know the magnetic pull that the United States exerts on anyone who dreams of a career in science. From the time I watched NASA technicians on television during the first lunar landing in 1969, I resolved to get the best scientific education that my talents and circumstances would allow. | 05/22/13 08:12:48 By - By LINDA P.B. KATEHI

Glenn Garvin: Welcome to 'unwelcome' speech on campus

I know it was hard to hear anything last week over the cacophony of the White House roof falling over Benghazi, the IRS and spying on reporters. But still, I was surprised there wasn't more fuss about the Obama administration's war on Shakespeare. | 05/22/13 08:12:48 By - By GLENN GARVIN

Prayers in public offices

The following editorial appeared in the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday, May 21: | 05/22/13 08:08:13 By -

Obama's weak record on freedom of the press

The following editorial appeared in the Seattle Times on Tuesday, May 21: | 05/22/13 08:08:13 By -

Why USC and not a black college, Dr. Dre?

I was in Detroit preparing to give a speech last week when the news came across my Twitter feed: "Dr. Dre and music producer Jimmy Iovine donate $70 million to (the University of Southern California) to create new degree." As one of the first university presidents from the hip-hop generation, I had to stop and read the story immediately. | 05/22/13 08:08:13 By - By WALTER M. KIMBROUGH

Billie Sol Estes' notoriety included getting cameras kicked out of courtrooms

The following editorial appeared in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Tuesday, May 21: | 05/22/13 08:08:13 By -

Banks still want bailouts

The following editorial appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer on Tuesday, May 21: | 05/22/13 08:08:13 By -

Robin Abcarian: Angelina Jolie's courageous act will save women's lives

Four days after her April 27 breast reconstruction, the third and final surgery aimed at sparing her an early death from breast cancer, Angelina Jolie was in good spirits at home. | 05/22/13 08:08:13 By - By ROBIN ABCARIAN

Leonard Pitts Jr.: Why Mark Carson matters

Mark Carson was shot in the face because he's gay. | 05/22/13 04:00:00 By - By LEONARD PITTS JR.

Conservatives should lead on immigration

The following editorial appeared in the Chicago Tribune on Sunday, May 19: | 05/22/13 03:07:54 By -

Worry about food stamp growth, not junk food

The following editorial appeared in the Chicago Tribune on Monday, May 20: | 05/22/13 03:07:54 By -

Superman, a hero with staying power

My nomination for American hero of the 20th century is someone who lived half his life in disguise and the other half as the world's most recognizable man. He appeared on more radio broadcasts than Ellery Queen and in more movies than Marlon Brando, who once played his father. He helped give America the backbone to wage war against the Nazis, the Depression and the Red Menace. He remains an intimate to kids from Boston to Belgrade and has adult devotees who, like Talmudic scholars, parse his every utterance. | 05/21/13 08:11:19 By - By LARRY TYE

Michael Smerconish: At the IRS, wrong, but maybe explainable

First the easy part: No one from the Internal Revenue Service should ever have singled out any applicant for disparate treatment based upon party affiliation or ideology. And never should IRS officials have scrutinized only one end of the political spectrum, which in the case of the current scandal involves targeting groups that use the words tea party, patriots, and 9/12 project in their names. | 05/21/13 08:11:19 By - By MICHAEL SMERCONISH

Cause for hope � and fear � in Pakistan

There is reason for hope in Nawaz Sharif's victory in the recent Pakistani elections. Sharif, who has twice served as Pakistan's prime minister, has said he wants to build a more robust democracy, revive the country's shattered economy and end the military's 40-year domination of its politics. He has also promised to improve relations with India and take on the radical Islamist terrorism that has tormented Pakistan. The United States should assist him in every way possible to achieve those goals. | 05/21/13 08:11:19 By - By PETER TOMSEN

U.S. must promote peaceful solutions in China vs. India feud

The following editorial appeared in the Kansas City Star on Sunday, May 19: | 05/21/13 08:11:19 By -

Commencement speakers: Conservatives need not apply

We have once again entered the college commencement season, which means we'll soon be reading about uplifting graduation speeches delivered by prominent Americans. Or at least by prominent liberal Americans. | 05/21/13 08:11:19 By - By KEVIN HASSETT

Doyle McManus: The second-term scandal plague

What is it about presidents' second terms that makes them seem so scandal-ridden? Simple: The iron law of longevity. All governments make mistakes, and all governments try to hide those mistakes. But the longer an administration is in office, the more errors it makes, and the harder they are to conceal. | 05/20/13 10:16:02 By - By DOYLE MCMANUS

Carl Hiaasen: IRS went after small fry, but let the big ones get away

"Please provide copies of all your current web pages, including your blog posts. Please provide copies of all your newsletters, bulletins, flyers or any other media or literature you have disseminated to your members or others. Please provide copies of stories and articles that have been published about you." | 05/20/13 09:56:02 By - By CARL HIAASEN

Tamerlan Tsarnaev: Not just any body

If you don't believe in souls or an afterlife, then a corpse is just a body - potentially a teaching tool, a source of life-saving organs, but little more. | 05/20/13 08:16:25 By - By ROBERT M. SAPOLSKY

The specter of human cloning

The following editorial appeared in the Los Angeles Times on Friday, May 17: | 05/20/13 08:16:25 By -

A federal 'shield' for reporters

The following editorial appeared in the Los Angeles Times on Friday, May 17: | 05/20/13 08:16:25 By -

Frida Ghitis: Amid crisis, Europe resists lure of extremism

It hardly qualifies as breaking news that Europe is in the middle of a deep and protracted economic contraction. When a story, no matter how shocking, goes on for years, the natural inclination is to let it fade to the background of our awareness. But a visit to Spain - even to one of the cities where the economic tragedy does a good job of hiding behind hordes of tourists and beautiful architecture - is a reminder of the extent of the disaster that has befallen Europe, until recently one of the world's most prosperous regions. | 05/20/13 08:16:25 By - By FRIDA GHITIS

Ban bullies and bullhooks

Every day it seems we learn more about the astounding sophistication of elephant communication. The most recent revelations, coming from experts who have studied elephants in the wild for decades, further establish the scope and scale of these animals' intelligence, social relationships and emotional complexity. Before your family goes to the zoo or circus, please consider what your tickets are supporting. | 05/20/13 08:16:25 By - By DELCIANNA WINDERS

Internet back doors would create cyber risks

The following editorial appeared in the Kansas City Star on Friday, May 17: | 05/20/13 08:16:25 By -

Wal-Mart, Gap skirt the issue

If the horrific garment factory collapse last month in Bangladesh has any silver lining, it is the response from more than 30 of the world's leading apparel companies - including Benetton, PVH, Abercrombie & Fitch, H&M, Inditex (Zara), Marks & Spencer and Tesco - to sign an agreement to protect the safety and lives of that nation's workers, who make the companies' products. | 05/20/13 08:16:25 By - By JAMES BRUDNEY AND CATHERINE FISK

Ending abuses in garment industry requires a unified effort by the world's apparel firms

The following editorial appeared in the Los Angeles Times on Friday, May 17: | 05/20/13 08:16:25 By -

Leonard Pitts Jr.: In Florida, timely injustice

At great political peril, George Ryan did the right thing. | 05/19/13 04:00:00 By - By LEONARD PITTS JR.

Pakistan's fragile democracy shows new strength

The following editorial appeared in the Chicago Tribune on Thursday, May 16: | 05/18/13 03:11:13 By -

Mary Sanchez: Responsibility for Asian sweatshop safety lies with us, too

Another apparel factory has collapsed in a poor Asian country, killing three workers, and I fear I'm partly to blame. | 05/17/13 11:29:45 By - By MARY SANCHEZ

Excitement or extortion? A guide to gifting

It's random present-giving season or, as Chaucer put it, "'Tis spring, when small birds make melodies and invitations to sendeth gifties doth impregnate already swollen mailboxes." | 05/17/13 10:49:45 By - By GINA BARRECA

Christine Flowers: Circling the presidential-protection wagons

Recently, in response to the hat trick of scandals the White House has scored over the past few days, some liberal commentators have tried to distance President Obama from at least two of them. | 05/17/13 09:44:45 By - By CHRISTINE M. FLOWERS

President must show more leadership and decisiveness

The following editorial appeared in the Miami Herald on Thursday, May 16: | 05/17/13 08:10:00 By -

Trudy Rubin: Real scandal of Benghazi

Yes, Virginia, there is a Benghazi scandal. | 05/17/13 08:10:00 By - By TRUDY RUBIN

Susan Reimer: Angelina Jolie starts the breast cancer conversation

"Mom. Do you have that gene? Do I? Have you been tested? I thought Grandma had breast cancer. Why weren't you ever tested?" | 05/17/13 08:10:00 By - By SUSAN REIMER

The real IRS scandal

It's strange how "scandal" gets defined these days in Washington. At the moment, everyone is screaming about the "scandal" of the Internal Revenue Service scrutinizing conservative nonprofits before granting them tax-exempt status. | 05/17/13 08:10:00 By - By MICHAEL HILTZIK

Social insecurity and the Obama administration

President Obama is betraying his own promises and his Democratic base by agreeing to cut Social Security. | 05/17/13 08:10:00 By - By CLARENCE LUSANE

For a dying patient, a prescription of silence

His wife was a patient at the clinic where I worked in my early days as a doctor. I saw her regularly for hypertension. But on one visit, she was more concerned about her husband - let's call him Pedro. He was having stomach pains and difficulty swallowing. I told her to make an appointment for him with me. | 05/17/13 08:10:00 By - By SUSAN PARTOVI

Linda P. Campbell: Watching life's dreams unfold

Admit it: There've been times when you were so daunted by the immediate hurdles on the parenthood journey that you couldn't even imagine what lay ahead. | 05/17/13 08:10:00 By - By LINDA P. CAMPBELL

John Kass: Proliferating scandals expose truth about Obama

Dogged by scandal, and with his press secretary presumably now curled up in the fetal position and breathing into a brown paper bag, it's obvious President Barack Obama is in need. | 05/17/13 03:09:55 By - By JOHN KASS

The Benghazi talking points: Internal emails support the president's assertion that there's no 'there' there

The following editorial appeared in the Los Angeles Times on Thursday, May 16: | 05/16/13 11:23:50 By -

Thomas Shaller: Gun advocates should take aim at real scandals

Last month, I received emails from two people I know but who don't know each other: one a close friend and Second Amendment supporter, and the other a regular reader who sends me news items she believes the "liberal media" are willfully suppressing. | 05/16/13 08:18:58 By - By THOMAS F. SCHALLER

Bob Ray Sanders: Even criminals ought to have a final resting place

Two or three times a year, I drop by a Fort Worth cemetery to visit the grave of Lee Harvey Oswald, the man who assassinated President John F. Kennedy in 1963. | 05/16/13 08:18:58 By - By BOB RAY SANDERS

The Kermit Gosnell verdict

The following editorial appeared in the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday, May 15: | 05/16/13 08:18:58 By -

Gatsby and the McJobs Rebellion

"Great Gatsby," meet Raise Up Milwaukee. And New York. And Chicago. And St. Louis. And Detroit. | 05/16/13 08:14:14 By - By DORIAN T. WARREN

Increase in greenhouse gases reaches ominous milestone

The following editorial appeared in the Miami Herald on Wednesday, May 15: | 05/16/13 08:14:14 By -

Doctoring in a family way

Jennifer was one of my first patients as a new doctor, and she came to see me about an unintended pregnancy. A single mom to a rambunctious 5-year-old girl, Jennifer was struggling economically and battling depression. We talked about the options available to her: continuing the pregnancy and preparing to parent another child, offering the baby for adoption or having an abortion. She chose to continue with the pregnancy, and I worked with her over the following months as she struggled with the discomforts of pregnancy, excessive weight gain and the anxiety of having to raise two small children on her own. | 05/16/13 08:14:14 By - By ALISON BLOCK

Require labels for genetically engineered foods

The following editorial appeared in the San Jose Mercury News on Wednesday, May 15: | 05/16/13 08:14:14 By -

Military's record on sexual assault: From bad to worse

Another day, another military sexual assault scandal. | 05/16/13 08:14:14 By - By ROBIN ABCARIAN

Why Congress, not the states, should handle immigration reform

Congress should enact common-sense immigration reform to put an end to the frustration that has led to a patchwork of poorly conceived anti-immigrant laws at the state level. | 05/16/13 08:14:14 By - By LINTON JOAQUIN

Nuking the filibuster: If Senate Republicans won't give Obama nominees an up-or-down vote, it may be time to change the body's rules

The following editorial appeared in the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday, May 15: | 05/16/13 08:14:14 By -

Obama and overreach: Americans see evidence of truth-shading, arrogance and intrusion

The following editorial appeared in the Chicago Tribune on Wednesday, May 15: | 05/16/13 03:14:02 By -

Obama administration assaults press freedom

The following editorial appeared in the Baltimore Sun on Wednesday, May 15: | 05/15/13 11:43:50 By -

Taxing the tea party

The following editorial appeared in the Baltimore Sun on Wednesday, May 15: | 05/15/13 11:43:50 By -

Justice Department's journalistic dragnet

The following editorial appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer on Wednesday, May 15: | 05/15/13 11:38:50 By -

In IRS and AP cases, the government crosses the line

The following editorial appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Wednesday, May 15: | 05/15/13 11:38:50 By -

Seizure of AP phone records harms free press

The following editorial appeared in the Kansas City Star on Wednesday, May 15: | 05/15/13 11:33:49 By -

Obama team suffers from its mistakes

The following editorial appeared in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Wednesday, May 15: | 05/15/13 11:23:49 By -

Obama administration has been overzealous and irresponsible in its pursuit of leakers

The following editorial appeared in the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday, May 15: | 05/15/13 11:03:50 By -

Do your patriotic duty: Ask for a raise

The downturn we call the Great Recession officially started in 2007. But after spending the last two years talking to people who lost jobs, homes or savings during the official recession, I'd argue that the trouble actually started decades earlier. | 05/15/13 08:18:57 By - By BARBARA GARSON

Past time for heads to roll

The twin revelations of the Internal Revenue Service targeting conservative political organizations and, now, that the U.S. Justice Department was spying on the Associated Press - all in a few days - mean this: It is time to air the dirty laundry of this administration's intelligence and surveillance programs - and it is way past time for heads to roll in Washington. | 05/15/13 08:18:57 By - By RICHARD PARKER

Immigration and gang labels

The following editorial appeared in the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday, May 14: | 05/15/13 08:18:57 By -

Why did the IRS muscle the right?

The following editorial appeared in the Chicago Tribune on Tuesday, May 14: | 05/15/13 03:14:02 By -

Leonard Pitts Jr.: What was the IRS thinking?

Well, this is a fine mess. | 05/15/13 04:00:00 By - By LEONARD PITTS JR.

Abortion in a 'house of horrors'

The following editorial appeared in the Chicago Tribune on Tuesday, May 14: | 05/15/13 03:14:02 By -

Biotech crops and Europe; a losing battle against progress

The following editorial appeared in the Chicago Tribune on Monday, May 13: | 05/15/13 03:14:02 By -

The Benghazi decisions: Make uncovering the truth a bipartisan mission

The following editorial appeared in the Chicago Tribune on Monday, May 13: | 05/15/13 03:14:02 By -

IRS unites nation with shoddy treatment of tea party groups

Finally, a small cadre of busybody bureaucrats has discovered a way to bring this divided country together. | 05/14/13 13:33:53 By - By ROBIN ABCARIAN

IRS's power requires great responsibility

The following editorial appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer on Tuesday, May 14: | 05/14/13 11:13:50 By -

IRS targeting of conservatives demands independent review

The following editorial appeared in the San Jose Mercury News on Tuesday, May 14: | 05/14/13 11:03:51 By -

IRS picked wrong tests to ferret out abuses

The following editorial appeared in the Kansas City Star on Tuesday, May 14: | 05/14/13 11:03:51 By -

Targeting tax-exempt groups: Did the IRS focus only on conservative applicants? If so, that's unacceptable

The following editorial appeared in the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday, May 14: | 05/14/13 10:53:50 By -

How Gosnell got away with it

The following editorial appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer on Tuesday, May 14: | 05/14/13 10:13:50 By -

Don't let Gosnell reduce family-planning options for the pregnant poor

The following editorial appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News on Tuesday, May 14: | 05/14/13 10:03:52 By -

Christine M. Flowers: Gosnell jury saw the truth

And so, what Jack McMahon audaciously called a racist prosecution, wherein a black man was being called to account for ending the lives of countless nameless black babies, has ended in a righteous verdict: guilty, guilty, and again, guilty. | 05/14/13 10:03:52 By - By CHRISTINE M. FLOWERS

Edward Wasserman: Media getting it wrong in Boston

On the warm, clear morning of 9/11, with the towers still ablaze, a workmate and I set out on foot from our office in midtown Manhattan toward what later became known as Ground Zero. This was years before smart phones. With electricity out in much of the downtown, people we passed had turned to a decades-old news source: They huddled around the open doors of parked cars and listened to the radios. | 05/14/13 08:14:11 By - By EDWARD WASSERMAN

Trudy Rubin: What Russia gave Kerry on Syria � very little

Those who oppose greater U.S. involvement in Syria were no doubt relieved at the announcement that Moscow and Washington want to convene an international conference to end the country's civil war. | 05/14/13 08:14:11 By - By TRUDY RUBIN

Rape in U.S. military: Conduct unbecoming

The following editorial appeared in the Miami Herald on Monday, May 13: | 05/14/13 08:14:11 By -

Boomers need immigrants

The following editorial appeared in the Los Angeles Times on Monday, May 13: | 05/14/13 08:14:11 By -

Bringing drones out of the shadows

The following editorial appeared in the Los Angeles Times on Monday, May 13: | 05/14/13 08:14:11 By -

Gregory Clay: Two cases of incomprehensible inhumanity

In December 1964 in Oslo, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., when receiving the coveted Nobel Peace Prize, fixated on "man's inhumanity to man" during his acceptance speech. | 05/14/13 08:14:11 By - By GREGORY CLAY

Online merchants should collect what is owed

The following editorial appeared in the Chicago Tribune on Friday, May 10: | 05/14/13 03:13:57 By -

Benjamin Franklin: Defense witness for Bradley Manning

Bradley Manning should call Benjamin Franklin to his defense. | 05/13/13 08:10:59 By - By RUSS CASTRONOVO

The meat industry must stop employing reckless drivers

Most of us - even those of us who eat meat - know that life on a factory farm is no picnic for animals. Chickens are crammed together with thousands of others inside dark sheds that reek of ammonia. Piglets are castrated without being given any painkillers. Terrified calves are torn away from their mothers within hours of birth. | 05/13/13 08:10:59 By - By DAN PADEN

Frida Ghitis: Hypocrisy over Israel's Syria bombing

It didn't take long after news that Israel had bombed military facilities inside Syria for the Arab League to demand that the U.N. Security Council "act immediately to end Israeli attacks on Syria" over what the League called a "dangerous violation of an Arab state's sovereignty." | 05/13/13 08:10:59 By - By FRIDA GHITIS

An employer's right not to speak

The following editorial appeared in the Los Angeles Times on Friday, May 10: | 05/13/13 08:10:59 By -

How one Golden State icon helped tarnish another

Once upon a time, the University of California was a sacred trust, the top tier of a model educational system that helped lift the state to unprecedented prosperity. It was jealously protected from outside political interference. | 05/13/13 08:10:59 By - By SETH ROSENFELD

Benghazi deserves real review

The following editorial appeared in the Baltimore Sun on Friday, May 10: | 05/13/13 08:10:59 By -

Leonard Pitts Jr.: Ignoring the real while fighting the imaginary

It should've been the shot heard around the world. Chances are, you didn't hear it. | 05/12/13 10:20:31 By - By LEONARD PITTS JR.

Parenting: Best done in moderation

Mother's Day is a day when moms get a break from their typical parenting responsibilities and are pampered. A mother may be served breakfast in bed, get a pedicure, and find the chores get done without her. We hope that all mothers reading this are enjoying such luxuries today. | 05/12/13 10:20:31 By - By HOLLY H. SCHIFFRIN AND MIRIAM LISS

Commentary: Vive La France

Across the vast Sahara Desert in Northern Mali, as well as in the neighboring countries of Chad, Niger, Mauretania and Algeria, millions of people are cheering openly or in secret at the French aircraft smashing down Islamists since Jan 11. | 01/22/13 14:33:28 By - Ben Barber

McClatchy, Washington Post press for release of missing journalist Austin Tice

“Tice was captured in Syria four months ago. While the wait for news on his whereabouts drags on, we wanted to make the case for why work such as his is so vital and why he should be released.” | 12/23/12 00:00:00 By - By Anders Gyllenhaal and Marcus Brauchli

Letter from parents of missing journalist Austin Tice

An open letter to those holding our son, Austin Tice. Our family is longing for the safe return of our cherished son and beloved brother Austin, who was taken captive while working as a journalist in Syria. So many things have happened in the more than 18 weeks he has been missing. We missed him terribly at the family gathering for the feast of Thanksgiving. We are a close-knit family, sharing so many memories and traditions. Now, as we prepare for the joyful celebration of Christmas, we desperately want our family to be whole. Our hearts are heavy to think his chair may once again be empty at our family table; we dread missing his great storytelling and contagious laugh. | 12/20/12 16:05:42 By - By Marc and Debra Tice

Commentary: Flawed pleas from Kony 2012 and Mike Daisey

In the news have been two unusual stories, both of them exposing outrageous abuse of innocents abroad, neither one broken by what we normally consider the news media. Instead they were launched by zealous outsiders from the edges of the informational ecosystem, and were fiercely embraced, until their claims were scrutinized and found wanting. | 04/02/12 01:35:27 By - Edward Wasserman

Commentary: Time to reassess 'Stand Your Ground' laws

The news article foresaw Trayvon Martin’s death:

“Opponents of the law predict that more Florida residents will die needlessly in more gun battles as people refuse to back away in confrontations.” | 04/01/12 06:01:54 By - Mary Sanchez

Commentary: Broader questions raised by Afghan massacre

No matter how hard we look, there may never be an adequate explanation for what Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales is accused of – the massacre of 17 Afghan civilians, nine of them children. | 03/29/12 06:03:30 By - Foon Rhee

Commentary: Wind power tax credit should expire

Gov. Sam Brownback and U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, both Republicans of Kansas, should know better. They teamed up recently on a piece for The Star supporting renewal of the federal wind-energy production tax credit, which expires at the end of this year. | 03/27/12 06:01:00 By - E. Thomas McClanahan

Commentary: There's too much fear and far too little understanding in America

I've written before about how seeing a police car in my rearview mirror gives me chills even though I know I haven't done anything to warrant special attention. | 03/25/12 06:04:22 By - Merlene Davis

Commentary: Texas could still mean something in GOP presidential race

With the Texas primary still more than two months away, and no assurances that the GOP presidential nominating process will have been decided by then, folks in the Lone Star State are anxiously preparing for company. | 03/24/12 06:05:55 By - Bob Ray Sanders

Commentary: Could any candidate live up to this GOP purity pledge?

Laurens County Republicans want only pure, unadulterated candidates. Sinners need not register to run. That was the goal of a pledge concocted by the Laurens County Republican Party. The plan was to require anyone who wanted to run for office with the party’s blessing to sign the pledge and be approved by a panel of county GOP leaders. | 03/23/12 06:02:50 By - James Werrell

Commentary: Steve Schmidt faces heat after 'Game Change'

Some conservatives speak volumes as they try to pillory Steve Schmidt, the strategist who helped run John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign and lately has been getting attention thanks to Woody Harrelson's portrayal of him in the movie, "Game Change." | 03/22/12 06:03:34 By - Dan Morain

Commentary: Time to cut our losses in Afghanistan

During his campaign, President Obama pledged a revitalized effort in Afghanistan. That was the war that mattered, he said; President George W. Bush took his eye off the ball when he invaded Iraq. | 03/22/12 06:08:44 By - E. Thomas McClanahan

Commentary: 'The Boss' delivers his state of our union

It begins with big drums, a guitar seesawing beneath like a deck rolling in high seas. It ends with a fuzz of static and feedback, a hiss of promises broken and a mortgage on the future. In the 13 songs that unfold in between, one of the elder statesmen of American popular music delivers what might fairly be called a State of the Union Address. | 03/21/12 07:01:17 By - Leonard Pitts Jr.

Commentary: Tuareg rebels seek Sahara state

The fabled Blue Men of the Sahara — the Tuaregs — have been trading in their traditional camels for jeeps in recent years. But this year they traded in their daggers and rifles for Kalashnikovs and rockets supplied by the late Libyan strongman Muamar Gadhaffi. | 03/21/12 06:02:56 By - Ben Barber

Commentary: We must not excuse Afghan killings in search for why it happened

At what point does our need to understand the horrific acts attributed to Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales deteriorate into a need to absolve? It is natural to look at the photo of the earnest soldier, to read his biography, to listen to his friends and family and wonder how it could be the same man now accused of war crimes. | 03/20/12 07:45:07 By - Peter Callaghan

Commentary: Santorum isn't the only one needing Puerto Rico history lessons

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum's brief island hop to Puerto Rico last week didn't turn out well for the former Pennsylvania senator. | 03/20/12 07:21:05 By - J.R. Labbe

Commentary: Two warlords, American policy hypocrisy and the power of social media

Two African warlords were in the news in the last week and they did more than remind the world of their barbarity. One demonstrated the power of the social media. The other demonstrated the hypocrisy of the United States. | 03/20/12 06:06:45 By - Dennis Jett

Commentary: This insane war on women

Women get a lot of lip service about being equal and fully valued members of society, although sometimes we have to wonder. | 03/19/12 12:07:28 By - Mary Sanchez

Commentary: Memories of my brother

Eighteen years ago this week I lost the person closest to me in the world.

That was my year-younger brother James. He died at age 47 of a brain aneurism in Eugene, Ore., where he was working and going to school. | 03/13/12 16:27:07 By - Mike Tharp

Commentary: Rick Perry and Super Tuesday 'what ifs'

For now, Rick Santorum is living out Gov. Rick Perry's dream.

Six months ago, this looked to be Perry's week. | 03/05/12 12:28:21 By - Bud Kennedy

Commentary: Santorum's distortion of JFK's church-state speech

An election for president of the United States shouldn't be decided on who can spout more Bible verses, make more promises to dictate policy according to his church's tenets or insist that he's holier than thou. | 03/02/12 06:10:10 By - Linda P. Campbell

Commentary: The Girl Scout couldn't ask for better publicity

With the Dow near 13,000 and home sales up, one Indiana Republican found a new election-year issue.

Instead of jobs or the economy, state Rep. Bob Morris zeroed in on the greatest threat to America as we know it:

The Girl Scouts. | 02/24/12 12:52:18 By - Bud Kennedy

Commentary: Egypt loves and hates foreign aid

The criminal trial of 16 Americans and 27 others will start Feb. 26 on charges they ran unlicensed foreign aid programs aimed at overthrowing the Egyptian government or increasing U.S. influence in the country. | 02/24/12 06:07:01 By - Ben Barber

Commentary: Florida, this is insanity

Thank God for Texas. Else we’d rank as the most barbaric backwater in the nation. Even infamously unenlightened states like Mississippi, Alabama and South Carolina spend more per capita on mental health than Florida. | 02/23/12 12:22:08 By - Fred Grimm

Commentary: Learning lessons from Jeremy Lin

What can a Chinese-American Harvard graduate who's suddenly exploded as a National Basketball Association star with the New York Knicks teach us Mercedians? A lot. | 02/20/12 11:42:58 By - Mike Tharp

Commentary: Another John Glenn needed for U.S. space program

Two old heroes remembered their fellow Project Mercury astronauts, the ones who are gone now. And something else, something crucial, something gone missing from the American space program. | 02/20/12 10:27:35 By - Fred Grimm

Commentary: A 'leftist agenda' on every street corner

Who'd have thought Fort Worth's efforts to spruce up inner-city neighborhoods were part of a U.N. plot to rob us hard-working Americans of all we hold dear?

That head-scratching conclusion is where the dots might lead if you connect them in the way U.S. Senate hopeful Ted Cruz wants you to. | 02/17/12 06:05:07 By - Linda P. Campbell

Commentary: We can't ignore China's human rights record

China's one-party government is undergoing a leadership change, and both the United States and China have an interest in building constructive relationships. | 02/16/12 14:00:38 By -

Commentary: N.C. dad shoots daughter's laptop to show he cares

Any hardworking, caring parent who has fought the urge to knock teeth down a rebellious teenage throat through which ungratefulness is spewing understands why Tommy Jordan shot his daughter's laptop computer.

That's right. Shot it. Nine times. With his .45. Not that the gun or the bullets are the subject here. They are just the exclamation point on the end of the sentence. | 02/15/12 13:46:37 By - Burgetta Wheeler

Commentary: Why didn't GOP question CPAC panelist's alleged white supremacist ties?

Memo to the GOP: White supremacists no longer announce themselves by marching hooded and torching crosses.

Last week, GOP officials were told that a former leader of a group preaching the genetic superiority of white people would appear on a panel at the Conservative Political Action Conference in D.C. | 02/13/12 13:07:00 By - Mary Sanchez

Commentary: Egypt's democracy falters

I am not surprised that the Egyptians are scurrying around trying to crush U.S. democracy programs like an elephant trying to step on a mouse. | 02/10/12 13:13:01 By - Ben Barber

Commentary: Obama, Congress must fill lower federal court openings

Now that the 112th Senate has convened in the 2012 presidential election year for its second session, this is an ideal moment to analyze lower federal court judicial selection. | 02/09/12 15:23:55 By - Carl Tobias

Commentary: Kansas has no excuses for food stamp debacle

Kansas is running out of excuses. Social and Rehabilitation Services officials are digging in their heels, defending a change in how food stamps are allotted.

Kansas used to handle the benefits in a morally responsible manner. Now, hundreds if not thousands of U.S.-born children have been severed from aid. | 02/06/12 12:22:43 By - Mary Sanchez

Commentary: So much for capping CEO salaries

Homeowners suffering the consequences of the crash should take a deep breath, and consider what the CEO of one of the biggest recipients of a taxpayer bailout considered a hardship. | 02/06/12 06:02:06 By - Dan Morain

Commentary: Foreign policy football

Foreign policy is the sensitive and sometimes explosive way we interact with the other 200 countries in the world. It should be a thoughtful, reasoned and passionate defense of American values while showing respect to our allies and firm logic to our enemies. | 02/03/12 14:14:14 By - Ben Barber

Commentary: Lou Dobbs' 'activist judges' rant becomes Daily Show shtick

I'm still perplexed about what Texas redistricting case Lou Dobbs was talking about.

On Monday night, Dobbs took a Jon Stewart metaphor about wealthy people "gerrymandering" themselves into continued prosperity and veered into spouting "facts" about Texas redistricting that were -- to put it politely -- totally fabricated. | 02/03/12 11:40:14 By - Linda P. Campbell

Commentary: Taiwan should get OK to buy F-16s

Vice President Joe Biden is in Fort Worth today for two private fundraising events for President Barack Obama's re-election campaign.

Given that Tarrant County ranks second only to Orange County, Calif., for its deep-red Republican hue, there probably wasn't a need to book the convention center. | 02/01/12 11:59:14 By - J.R. Labbe

Commentary: It's Mitt's assertion that he is not anti-immigrant that is repulsive

The squawking heads were all in such a rush to declare Mitt Romney the winner of the debate on Thursday night that they forgot to listen to what he actually said.

Romney, in parrying Newt Gingrich's charge that he is the most anti-immigrant candidate, forcefully declared: "I'm not anti-immigrant. My father was born in Mexico. My wife's father was born in Wales. They came to this country. The idea that I'm anti-immigrant is repulsive." | 01/31/12 07:05:52 By - Dennis Jett

Commentary: Newt may be the Democrats' dream candidate

If you're a Democrat, here's what you're thinking before the Florida's Republican primary:

Pinch me. | 01/31/12 06:02:03 By - Carl Hiaasen

Commentary: Is GOP wary of Newt going rogue?

Fellow Republicans are fretful indeed these days, with the race for the presidential nomination having turned into what a few commentators have called a "circular firing squad." The question, after Newt Gingrich's take-no-prisoners, brawling win in the South Carolina primary, is not just, "Who will win?" but "Will the nomination be worth having?" We will tell you now that it will be, as you shall see from our optimistic prognostication. | 01/28/12 06:00:18 By - Jim Jenkins

Commentary: The movie of Joe Paterno's life

I frequently contemplate death. It’s a hazard of my chosen profession and the result of being part of a family that has seen death come in too many ways to ignore. | 01/27/12 12:27:11 By - Issac J. Bailey

Commentary: The drug war next door shouldn't be ignored

In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, President Barack Obama talked about the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, but didn't say a word about a war that is taking place next door, and that is killing more people than the others: the drug-related war in Mexico and Central America. | 01/27/12 11:18:04 By - Andres Oppenheimer

Commentary: 'Birthers' nonsense sets Georgia up for ridicule — again

We will risk the fairly safe assumption, as this is being written, that Air Force One did not make an appearance at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport sometime Thursday. | 01/27/12 09:09:35 By -

Commentary: Thanks to Gingrich, Washington state's caucuses might be relevant

Newt Gingrich has accomplished something I didn't think was possible.

I don't mean his return from the political graveyard to win the South Carolina Republican primary on Saturday, as significant as that is. | 01/25/12 06:16:28 By - Peter Callaghan

Commentary: Remembering Joe Paterno

The pain and suffering are over for Joe Paterno. | 01/23/12 13:59:53 By -

Commentary: Gingrich should learn that the poor already work hard

I wish Newt Gingrich had met Kendra Keel.

Gingrich, the Republican presidential candidate who has shot up in state polls before Saturday’s crucial S.C. primary, and Keel, a founding member of the Myrtle Beach group Mothers Against Violence, both attended Monday’s King Day breakfast and community awards banquet. | 01/20/12 14:42:43 By - Issac J.Bailey

Commentary: An off the record meeting for 500 journalists?

A day after the Democratic National Convention Committee reiterated that Charlotte's gathering would be "the most open and accessible in history," 500 media representatives were given a tour Wednesday of their September digs. | 01/20/12 13:34:18 By - Mark Washburn

Commentary: The stained-glass ceiling halted Perry's presidential run

When hillbilly bandleader W. Lee "Pass the Biscuits, Pappy" O'Daniel quit the U.S. Senate in 1948, he promised to go home.

"I might start a fiddle band," he said. | 01/20/12 07:36:18 By - Bud Kennedy

Commentary: Could Libertarian Gary Johnson shake up the presidential race?

A candidate from the Southwest looks like a shoo-in for the fall ballot. But he won't be a Texan, or named Perry or Paul.

Three weeks after he declared himself "liberated" from Republicans, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson is proving that you can quit and still get ahead. | 01/19/12 08:52:18 By - Bud Kennedy

Commentary: Will Colbert Nation make its point about super PACs in S.C. primary?

What's more likely to call attention to the outrage that is the super PAC: a bunch of Occupiers showing up at federal courthouses Friday — or Colbert Nation upending Saturday's South Carolina Republican primary by voting for Herman Cain? | 01/19/12 07:35:34 By - Linda P. Campbell

Commentary: Colbert's super PAC shows political spending is so sad it's funny

Stephen Colbert is making a mockery of political spending in the 2012 election. This seems to be the only sensible response. Mocking is what's called for. | 01/17/12 06:11:36 By - Tommy Tomlinson

Commentary: South Carolina as a GOP model for the nation?

The broad concepts the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination will tout on the stage at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center Monday night have been preached for almost a quarter of a century in South Carolina.

Taxes are low. Labor unions have been defanged. | 01/16/12 14:53:39 By - Issac J.Bailey

Commentary: Iran gives the West a gift

The most recent threat by Iran to block the Strait of Hormuz and choke off the flow of the world's oil supply, while frightening to some, really represents a golden opportunity. | 01/16/12 13:56:27 By - Paul V. Kane

Commentary: The spirit of MLK lives in Occupy movement

If Martin Luther King Jr. were somehow able to attend Lexington's annual celebration of his birth Monday, where would he spend his time? | 01/16/12 13:06:25 By - Tom Eblen

Commentary: Is MLK a safe icon or radical organizer?

It’s a case of mistaken identity.

At last count, 893 streets in the United States (and another two in Puerto Rico) have been renamed for Martin Luther King Jr. | 01/16/12 07:13:34 By - Fred Grimm

Commentary: Hispanic voters will be Romney's biggest problem

Republican hopeful Mitt Romney will have two big problems if, as expected, he clinches the Republican nomination for the November election: his business background and Hispanic voters.

While most of the media focus on the first, Romney’s biggest problem will be the second. | 01/12/12 14:11:19 By - Andres Oppenheimer

Commentary: Federal court keeps Oklahoma from discriminating against Muslims

Thank goodness for Oklahoma.

Every time Texas begins to feel like some remote backwater -- say, during a presidential campaign -- Oklahoma is right there to make Texans feel downright civilized. | 01/12/12 06:01:53 By - Bud Kennedy

Commentary: In breast cancer battle, exercise can save lives and dollars

In the battle against breast cancer, there's one self-defense tool that every woman should be wielding. Exercise. And with the direct national cost for breast cancer care in the United States at $16.5 billion yearly, we need to be instituting public policies and community strategies that help ensure that she can. | 01/11/12 06:02:26 By - Helen Durkin

Commentary: Occupy Washington fights the cold

Early in the pre-dawn hours of Jan 5, Park Police went from tent to tent in the freezing night to wake up sleeping Occupy Washington protestors at Freedom Plaza, a block away from the White House. But they were not about to evict the 100 people camping there for three months hoping to "get big money out of politics" as they say. | 01/10/12 12:48:56 By - Ben Barber

Commentary: Paul is picking up evangelical voters from Perry

Once, he led a prayer rally called The Response.

Now, Gov. Rick Perry is The Reject. | 01/10/12 11:43:41 By - Bud Kennedy

Commentary: Even I coulda been a contenda in GOP field

If nothing else, the presidential candidates who dominated the news in 2011 brought an old guy a new revelation. Made me feel like Brando. Made me feel like shouting from the waterfront, “I coulda been somebody.” (“Instead of a bum, which is what I am.”) | 01/03/12 12:06:51 By - Fred Grimm

Commentary: A Christmas box full of youthful memories

This Christmas, I am doing something different for gifts. Some gifts, anyway. I have a suitcase of letters from my college years and the years immediately after, the mid and late '60s. I am sending them back to the people who wrote them -- when I can. | 12/24/11 06:48:42 By - Michael Carey

Commentary: Wounded Warrior Project helps veterans to keep on winning

A war is over, but not the pain. "When you lose both legs, you think you can't do anything," said Dan Nevins, an Iraq war veteran with a story to tell.

"The wounds last a lifetime." | 12/22/11 14:17:51 By - Bud Kennedy

Commentary: Our debate over Iraq has been quieted by 9 years of war

After this past weekend’s rather quiet end to the war in Iraq, it is kind of hard to remember how loud we were at the start.

The last detachment of American troops left early Sunday under a cover of darkness. Reporters on the ride into Kuwait described the troops as proud but also relieved, marking the significant moment modestly. | 12/21/11 06:12:18 By - Peter Callaghan

Commentary: Kim Jong Il's North Korea was absurd, cruel, tragic and dangerous

As if the world did not face enough uncertainty at the end of 2011, we received the news on Sunday night that North Korea’s Kim Jong Il died. As is common for the sadly surreal nation, the information came wrapped up in confusing and absurd nondetails, with reports indicating the 69-year-old died of exhaustion on a train. | 12/20/11 12:10:54 By - Frida Ghitis

Commentary: Ike wouldn't like today's GOP

Republicans like Nelson Rockefeller and Dwight Eisenhower must be spinning in their graves. They have to be wondering just how their party has degenerated into the midget of the month club. | 12/19/11 06:05:43 By - Dennis Jett

Commentary: Marine Corp brass did a disservice to Dakota Meyer

The Marine Corps has done a disservice to its most recent recipient of the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest award for bravery in combat. | 12/19/11 06:24:27 By -

Commentary: Remembering Iraq's mass graves

As U.S. forces leave Iraq, let us not forget that one reason troops were sent there to kill and to die was to end 20 years of mass slaughter by Saddam Hussein’s forces, a mission that has been accomplished. | 12/18/11 06:29:04 By - Ben Barber

Commentary: Dakota Meyer's heroism didn't need embellishing

You might hope, after the tragic Pat Tillman fiasco, that government and military leaders had learned some painful but lasting lessons about bogus accounts of combat operations, and the heroism that brave Americans often display under the most terrifying of circumstances. Apparently not. | 12/16/11 13:29:10 By -

Commentary: Fun in Iowa with the GOP

or Newt Gingrich, it was his first night as prime-time headliner instead of crusty sitcom sidekick.

For Mitt Romney, it was his first round on the ropes in a prizefight that might last till August.

But for voter Mary Morter, 74, of Des Moines, it was another chance to torment visiting politicians. | 12/12/11 14:15:22 By - Bud Kennedy

Commentary: 'He is our president'

It had been a good Thanksgiving, and the day after, I was sitting in a small coffee shop way out west getting ready to resume the drive back to Raleigh. The television was turned to a news station, and President Obama was commenting on something to do with foreign policy (the volume was too low to discern what exactly). | 12/12/11 11:42:25 By - Jim Jenkins

Commentary: Sorry GOP but Jesus would side with 'Occupy' folks

'Tis the season to mix politics and religion.

GOP candidates are working fervently to stake out their free market credentials in advance of the inconveniently scheduled Iowa caucuses. “Occupy” protesters are refusing to go in from the cold. You knew it was only a matter of time before somebody brought Jesus into the argument. | 12/12/11 06:06:27 By - Barbara Shelly

Commentary: Deliver us from the overly devout

Count me among those pulling for Tim Tebow. Frankly, I don’t think the former University of Florida star now playing for the Denver Broncos has much of a chance at long-term stardom in the NFL, at least not as a quarterback. But right now he’s winning, and he’s exciting, and I like the kid.

Here’s what he isn’t: He isn’t a doctrinal obligation on anybody’s part to root for his team or his success because he’s a Christian. | 12/07/11 12:54:11 By - Dusty Nix

Commentary: Obama builds on Bush's AIDS project

World AIDS Day, on Dec. 1, was truly remarkable this year for several reasons -- mostly good, but at least one bad thing.

It was the day George W. Bush returned to Africa, a continent that benefited greatly from his unprecedented HIV/AIDS initiative; President Barack Obama committed to a major increase in funding for treatment of HIV here at home; and Magic Johnson included Tarrant County's AIDS Outreach Center as a partner in opening a new AIDS health clinic in Fort Worth. | 12/06/11 06:07:36 By - Bob Ray Sanders

Commentary: The life of an embedded reporter

The nature of war and warriors seldom changes. The ways wars are fought do change. And the way they're covered by the news media has shape-shifted a lot since the Vietnam War.

I've been lucky to have witnessed the generational changes up close and personal -- sometimes too close and too personal. | 12/05/11 14:17:26 By - Mike Tharp

Commentary: World forum in Korea aims to improve aid

Three thousand leaders from 160 countries went to Busan, Korea, last week to hammer out a new way to improve the delivery of foreign aid to billions of people around the world trapped in poverty, hunger, disease, ignorance and the other cancers of underdevelopment. | 12/05/11 11:10:14 By - Ben Barber

Commentary: Burma wakes up

The Arab Spring may be foundering in the Middle East as democracy struggles to take root from Tunisia to Syria to Iraq, but in Southeast Asia, a new democratic Spring has just been born. | 11/21/11 14:23:56 By - Ben Barber

Commentary: Only in Congress would pizza become a vegetable

See if you can score higher on this pop quiz than members of the U.S. Congress.

How much tomato paste must one slather onto a slice of pizza for it to qualify as a nutritionally adequate serving of vegetables for low-income schoolchildren? | 11/18/11 12:38:15 By - Mary Sanchez

Commentary: Kamal Saleem's tales of terrorism don't jibe

Forrest Gump of the Middle East is the questionable keynote speaker at the Independence mayor’s prayer breakfast. Wherever Islamic terrorism reigned, the now-Christian Kamal Saleem claims to have been there, waging jihad on Israel, the Soviets, and later, America. | 11/18/11 06:11:04 By - Mary Sanchez

Commentary: Penn State's Gilded Age

This story from Penn State is a blood diamond. So many facets, so many different angles, all of them uncomfortable to think about.

There's the hold that big-time sports has on our culture. I say this as a fan: The games matter far too much to far too many. Coaches and stars are our secular gods. Nobody in the state of Pennsylvania was as loved or as powerful as Joe Paterno. | 11/15/11 13:57:57 By - Tommy Tomlinson

Commentary: It's time to act on Iran's nuclear threat

Since the Nov. 8, 2011, release of the International Atomic Energy Agency's latest report about Iran's nuclear program, Tehran has waged an all-out campaign to dismiss the IAEA's findings, while implicitly threatening the world with a terrorist response. "Iran will respond with full force to any aggression or even threats in a way that will demolish the aggressors from within," Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said. | 11/15/11 11:56:14 By - Alireza Jafarzadeh

Commentary: What the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street really have in common

A number of commentators have struggled to link the Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street protestors. Both groups seem to be grassroots, spontaneous expressions of popular discontent. They appear to occupy opposite ends of the political spectrum, however, and have different takes on the cause of, and the solution for, their unhappiness. | 11/15/11 06:13:51 By - Dennis Jett

Commentary: Putting religious group's campaign against contraception into context

First marketed in 1960, the birth control pill soon became the most popular form of contraception in the United States. However, the pill was still not available to every woman who wanted it. Religious groups lobbied in favor of laws that banned all contraception, and it was not until 1965 that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, in Griswold v. Connecticut, that the right to contraception was protected by the Constitution. | 11/13/11 06:00:56 By - Sarah Lipton-Lubet

Commentary: Paterno's stubborn loyalty led to his downfall

Joe Paterno stayed too long. His ethical ideals had become rusty and the paint was peeling on his uncompromising principles. He placed a pail under the leak in the ceiling and looked the other way. | 11/12/11 06:49:50 By - Linda Robertson

Commentary: Penn State scandal reveals methods of predators

This column usually is devoted to the weekend’s big game or news in college sports. Coaches, players or administrators typically have voice here as a football Saturday approaches. But this isn’t a typical football eve. Because we continue to grasp what feels like the biggest scandal in college sports history, a story so vile it’s almost beyond belief, only voices like Jeanetta Issa’s should matter. | 11/11/11 14:25:29 By - Blair Kerkhoff

Commentary: I won't forgive Joe Paterno

Joe Paterno is an American icon, winner of more games than any other coach in the history of college football.

And now I can’t look at him without wanting to clench a fist. | 11/11/11 01:41:50 By - John McGrath

Commentary: Morality took a back seat to sporting glory at Penn State

Five years before scandal overwhelmed Penn State, we saw devotion to school sports trump morality right here Miami-Dade County. A sexual crime against a child was shrugged off. Laws were ignored. Cops weren’t notified. | 11/11/11 06:09:21 By - Fred Grimm

Commentary: Why didn't Joe Paterno do more?

As the flames rise with the noise, all of it threatening to engulf a legend, the old coach remains forever stubborn. Quit? That’s not what Penn State football coach Joe Paterno teaches, not what he knows, not who he is, so he’ll fight until the very end, and here’s what will happen: The winningest coach in the history of college football is about to lose, and he’s about to lose big. His job, his reputation, his desire to finish on his terms, his decades of work, the way he defines himself, his entire legacy — all of it is about to go up in a smoldering bonfire of flames unlike we’ve ever seen in college sports. | 11/09/11 13:06:09 By - Dan LeBatard

Commentary: Cain doesn't get that journalists' code of ethics is about asking questions

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, engulfed in a growing sexual harassment controversy, tried to put the issue to rest Saturday following a one-on-one debate in Houston with rival Newt Gingrich. Reporters tried to ask Cain about the allegations brought by three women that he had engaged in unwanted sexual behavior toward them while he headed the National Restaurant Association. | 11/09/11 12:42:23 By - Bob Ray Sanders

Commentary: It's time to ignore Herman Cain

There are plenty of reasons not to take Herman Cain seriously as a presidential candidate. There is one, however, that is rarely mentioned. And it is more important than the ones the media are talking about. | 11/09/11 11:49:33 By - Dennis Jett

Commentary: Scandal offers a view into Herman Cain's character

I see the makings of another best-seller in the recent travails of presidential candidate Herman Cain.

This one might be titled, “Owning Up To The Past: How My Failed Bid for the White House Taught Lessons in Humility and Self-Awareness.” When the dust settles, Cain will have to take responsibility for how poorly he has handled the allegations that he sexually harassed women while head of the National Restaurant Association. It will be interesting to see how Cain — a propagator of the slogan “CEO of Self” — files this episode. | 11/08/11 12:48:55 By - Mary Sanchez

Commentary: In Perry's viral video, the crowd loved the 'animated' Texan

Every Texan I know was loopy last Friday.

It just happened that one of us had to give a speech. On the night after we all stayed up late for a cataclysmic event hereafter known only as Game 6, Gov. Rick Perry had to give a keynote speech that has since turned into a sour note. | 11/04/11 12:19:18 By - Bud Kennedy

Commentary: Markets became false gods

When the Cold War ended in 1989 and Central Europe and Russia abandoned Socialism, some in America saw that as a vindication for free markets and capitalism as the only legitimate way of economic life. | 11/02/11 06:07:14 By - Ben Barber

Commentary: Perry's Texas tax overhaul isn't right for U.S.

If Gov. Rick Perry's flat-tax plan is anything like his tax policy in Texas, don't get your hopes up. It will be too simple to solve the problem and too good to be true.

Perry hopes that a bold idea will revive his struggling presidential campaign. But even some conservatives slammed the flat-tax proposal that he made last week, saying it wouldn't raise enough revenue to pay down the deficit. | 11/01/11 06:09:26 By - Mitchell Schnurman

Commentary: The Wall Street Journal - News Corp.'s other scandal

The really interesting question about the waning days of Rupert Murdoch’s reign over News Corp., his global media empire, is just how much irreparable harm his regime will do to the marquee institutions it controls that preceded him and deserve to survive. | 10/31/11 06:02:13 By - Edward Wasserman

Commentary: Perry's preacher Jeffress drives his point home

Southern Baptists and Mormons are really different. Was anybody not clear on that?

Just in case, the Rev. Robert Jeffress of Dallas has been on every TV network lately except Animal Planet, explaining that Southern Baptist doctrine calls several faiths a "cult" and claiming that he wasn't just trash-talking Mitt Romney to help Rick Perry win the Republican presidential nomination. | 10/28/11 12:06:32 By - Bud Kennedy

Commentary: Putting our political squabbles into perspective

If you were born in the United States in 1969, you've lived under eight presidents - Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II and Obama. But if you had been born in Libya in 1969, you would've lived your entire life, until last week, under one ruler - Moammar Gadhafi. | 10/27/11 06:09:17 By - Tommy Tomlinson

Commentary: Nicaragua is heading for disaster

As the word spread across the world last week that Libya’s weird and homicidal Moammar Gadhafi had breathed his last, the reactions ranged from somber relief to rapturous glee — except in Nicaragua, where President Daniel Ortega and his Sandinista party were plunged into grief by the demise of a longtime pal. | 10/26/11 12:58:35 By - Glenn Garvin

Commentary: The Patriot Act, cyber-edition

Cybersecurity is the new buzzword in Washington, capturing a wide range of potential responses to internet-related threats both real and imagined. Congress is starting to play a role, considering legislation that purports to make cyberspace more secure. But many of the solutions being offered echo those of the deeply flawed Patriot Act, enacted ten years ago this month. | 10/24/11 09:37:57 By - Zachary Katznelson

Commentary: Shalit deal was about Israel's soul

An editor looking over one of the articles I wrote about the release of Gilad Shalit asked me if I thought Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu made a deal with Hamas seeking to boost his popularity. The question is fair, I suppose. After all, Netanyahu, like most politicians, makes many decisions with an eye to political consequences. But the Shalit decision was not about politics. It was about Israel’s soul as a nation. | 10/21/11 12:19:31 By - Frida Ghitis

Commentary: Rick Perry gets his swagger back

Gov. Rick Perry is back in the saddle.

Zeroing in on Mitt Romney like a prairie varmint and telling Herman Cain that they'll be "bumpin' tax plans" soon, Perry rode back into the middle of the Republican presidential race Tuesday night with some of his old swagger and his saddlebags still full of cash. | 10/19/11 13:40:13 By - Bud Kennedy

Commentary: Ladies in White founder Laura Pollán's legacy of courage

In Miami, Havana and cities around the world where she touched hearts and changed views on Cuba, Laura Pollán is being remembered as a woman of exceptional courage. | 10/19/11 12:17:14 By - Fabiola Santiago

Commentary: Wheldon's death is IndyCar's 'Earnhardt moment'

The horrifying death of IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon in a 15-car crash Sunday in Las Vegas needs to serve as a wakeup call to that racing series - its own sad version of an "Earnhardt moment." | 10/18/11 12:50:56 By - Scott Fowler

Commentary: Wall Street occupiers aren't from outer space

After three weeks of occupation protests spreading from Wall Street to Seattle and now to Washington, I felt I had to visit — if only for old time’s sake — to see if it was a revival of the protests I saw during the Vietnam War and the Nixon’s administration. | 10/14/11 14:19:36 By - Ben Barber

Commentary: When Second Amendment and states' rights clash

Rep. Dan Lungren has a decision to make.

Lungren must weigh his background as a former California attorney general and his belief in states' rights against the hard reality that he will anger the National Rifle Association if he votes against the NRA's top priority, a bill that would dramatically weaken California's strict gun laws. | 10/14/11 10:54:06 By - Dan Morain

Commentary: Rick Perry is no Ronald Reagan on the debate stage

Rick Perry rode into this presidential race eight weeks ago looking like Ronald Reagan. Instead, he's turned into Cosmo Kramer. Awkward and often confused, he has become less of a participant in the Republican debates than a comic sidekick doing walk-ons, shouting about how we're "sittin' on a treasure-trove of energy!" and then grinning for applause. | 10/12/11 07:35:23 By - Bud Kennedy

Commentary: Death of Samir Khan was also a U.S. family's loss of a son

What should we say to the Khan family?

They live in northeast Charlotte, in a middle class community, and in the five years before my family moved last year, they were my neighbors. They lived down the road and around the bend, and they had a son who played basketball in the street. I probably drove by him, and I’m sure I’ve waved at his parents driving by my home, but I don’t remember. | 10/11/11 06:15:51 By - Peter St. Onge

Commentary: Hitler comparison is always out of bounds

Are you ready for some fallout?

This week’s poster boy for political incivility is country singer Hank Williams Jr. During a frequently awkward “Fox and Friends” interview Monday, Williams said President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner’s “golf summit” last summer was analogous to a pairing of Adolf Hitler and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. | 10/10/11 15:05:32 By - Michael Smerconish

Commentary: At least Bank of America's $5 debit card fee is easy to understand

OK, if everyone else is going to zag, let me zig. We shouldn't be pounding Bank of America for this new $5 monthly debit card fee. We should be applauding them. And here's why:

Finally, BofA is trying to make money in a way we can understand. | 10/10/11 14:22:31 By - Tommy Tomlinson

Commentary: There's some anger behind 'Occupy Wall Street'

You wonder why there's an Occupy Wall Street? "Rachel" can tell you. Rachel is not her real name. She doesn't want it used because she's holding down two jobs -- and wants to keep both.

Like Howard Beale in the 1976 movie "Network," she's mad as hell and is not going to take this anymore. | 10/10/11 14:01:26 By - Mike Tharp

Commentary: Sen. Rand Paul's credibility gap

Sen. Rand Paul was in the news last week for single-handedly blocking a pipeline safety bill that had bipartisan and industry support. He's in the news again this week for single-handedly blocking benefits to refugees who are in this country legally but are too disabled or old to work. | 10/07/11 13:07:09 By -

Commentary: Steve Jobs' remarkable vision and legacy

Steve Jobs was that rarest and most extraordinary of Californians, a man who in his 56 years helped transform an industry and left his imprint on us all. | 10/06/11 12:04:36 By -

Commentary: Mocking 'Occupy Wall Street' protests is easy now, but later?

An autumn chill sets on Liberty Memorial as the “occupation” prepares to bed down for the night on the grass adjacent to the Federal Reserve Bank. | 10/06/11 07:16:37 By - Mary Sanchez

Commentary: 9/11 conspiracy theories and the 'alleged' Boston Massacre

I was flying to Boston last week and found an article in a news magazine on a recent conference at Toronto’s Ryerson University.

“The International Hearings on the Events of September 11, 2001,” was the pretty impressive title. I guess it’s “international” because some of the participants were from the United States and the conference was in Canada. | 09/30/11 13:42:50 By - Peter Callaghan

Commentary: Fighting noncommunicable diseases in our own backyard

Call it an epidemic or call it a challenge of epidemic proportions. But when nearly two-thirds of all deaths around the globe are due to noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), there’s no dancing around the fact that we’ve got a manifest problem. | 09/29/11 11:09:33 By - Joe Moore

Commentary: There is no threat from gay marriage

I went to the gay parade Saturday, and guess what? I still like women. So what is it, exactly, that y'all are so afraid of?

And why? Hmmm? | 09/27/11 13:12:45 By - Barry Saunders

Letter to the editor: UNRWA response to 'Eternal Palestinian Refugees' commentary

It is unfortunate that rather than share factual insights based on even the most elementary research and fact-checking, Mr. Ben Barber chooses to rehash old and repeatedly discredited charges against UNRWA — the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. | 09/27/11 09:21:36 By - Matthew A. Reynolds

Commentary: Rick Perry is a little late to the GOP debate

Rick Perry has gone from the piñata to the punch line.

Three debates into the Perry for president campaign, the governor vanished for much of the night Thursday, except when Mitt Romney was delivering a critical reading of Perry's book. | 09/23/11 14:07:22 By - Bud Kennedy

Commentary: Keep your government hands off my french fries

I am bravely stepping forward to defend the besieged french fry.

This delectable morsel of fried tuber is under attack from all quarters these days. Even the president's wife is badgering restaurants to, if not delete entirely, at least offer substitutes for french fries. | 09/23/11 12:38:40 By - Wally Spiers

Commentary: Eternal Palestinian refugees

As Palestinians seek recognition as a state from the UN this week, many wonder what impact such a move might have on the 4.6 million Palestinians who are refugees from the 1948 Israel War of Independence or their descendants. | 09/22/11 14:46:44 By - Ben Barber

Commentary: Time to fill 92 lower court openings

Now that the Senate has returned from its summer break, this is an ideal moment to analyze the state of lower federal court judicial selection. The federal judiciary currently experiences 92 openings in the 858 appellate and district court judgeships. The vacancies first reached 90 two years ago and have since remained above or near that number. | 09/21/11 14:37:09 By - Carl Tobias

Commentary: No heckuva jobs for anyone in Middle East peace crisis

No matter what side of the conflict you favor, the drama surrounding a Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations is a saddening spectacle. Even the most passionate supporters of the idea recognize that the U.N. vote will not bring about a Palestinian state, nor will it bring an end to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. | 09/21/11 13:07:58 By - Frida Ghitis

Commentary: Texas has more jobs but also more poverty

When the country loses jobs, it's not surprising that more people fall into poverty. But when Texas adds jobs, more people fall into poverty, too.

Last week, new census data showed that the poverty rate climbed 6 percent nationwide in 2010. In Texas, it rose almost 9 percent, even though the state has consistently led the nation in job growth. | 09/20/11 06:11:53 By - Mitchell Schnurman

Commentary: Guess Pat Robertson forgot that 'in sickness and health' vow

You know that "slippery slope" everyone's always talking about going down? This is it. TV preacher Pat Robertson told a viewer of his show that it's OK to divorce his wife and remarry if she has Alzheimer's disease.

If it's cool to split when your spouse is stricken with Alzheimer's, what's next? The flu? Restless Leg Syndrome? An ingrown toenail? "Sorry, your honor, but that is not the foot I married." | 09/19/11 13:31:01 By - Barry Saunders

Commentary: Don't play politics with electricity

If ozone gets a delay, why not coal? And if waiting a few years is good for the U.S. economy, doesn't Texas deserve the same break? | 09/17/11 06:50:48 By - Mitchell Schnurman

Commentary: GOP debate shows some folks cheer executions, letting uninsured die

Here's what we learned in the last two Republican presidential debates: Evolution isn't science. Global warming is a shaky theory just waiting for another Galileo to refute. Vaccines are really scary. And some folks cheer for executions and for letting the uninsured die. | 09/15/11 13:23:16 By - Bud Kennedy

Commentary: Dakota Meyer's plea to respect military service members should be heeded

Today, President Barack Obama will give Dakota Meyer an award the former Marine would rather not have. | 09/15/11 12:33:35 By -

Commentary: Blaming Israel is the scoundrel's refuge

As the Arab revolutions stumble on the bayonets of real power in the Middle East, in Cairo, Syria and Bahrain, the street mobs and their would-be leaders blame Israel. | 09/13/11 14:20:06 By - Ben Barber

Commentary: Remembering a united nation after 9/11

On Sept. 10, 2001, as I boarded an American Airlines flight headed to Pittsburgh, tucked away in my carry-on luggage were tweezers, a nail clipper, a dual-bladed shaving razor, collapsible scissors and cross-stitch needles, a corkscrew bottle opener, a Swiss Army knife -- the one with all the tools -- and a Delica model Spyderco knife with a 3-inch blade. | 09/13/11 12:33:10 By - J.R. Labbe

Commentary: It's time for hope, renewal ten years after 9/11

I didn't lose any family or friends on 9/11, so I suppose it's easy for me to hope that we move beyond the tragedy after today's memorials. | 09/12/11 12:52:32 By - Marcos Breton

Commentary: U.S. must do better for war veterans

As we commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9-11, we should bear in mind the Americans who have done the most for the nation since that date in infamy.

Those are the 2.3 million women and men who have served in the U.S. armed forces over the past decade and gone to war in Iraq and Afghanistan. | 09/12/11 12:43:18 By - Mike Tharp

Commentary: Before 9/11, the terrorists bumbled around in Florida

Osama bin Laden knew what he was doing when he implanted several of the key 9/11 hijackers in Florida. There was no better place for his suicide crews to be overlooked, as they not-so-invisibly prepared for the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. | 09/12/11 11:42:41 By - Carl Hiaasen

Commentary: Could Clarence Thomas be an icon after all?

Clarence Thomas' greatest sin was that he wasn't the second coming of civil rights icon Thurgood Marshall and had no interest in pretending to be.

Because of that, he had no room to acknowledge the faintest human weakness without assisting in the destruction of his Supreme Court nomination. | 09/09/11 11:18:42 By - Linda P. Campbell

Commentary: No winners in Al Jazeera vs. Booker, Texas

A Texas Panhandle high school football game is making world news, and not because it was between Booker and Hooker.

On Friday, a foreign television crew dropped in at Booker's stadium to interview Fighting Kiowas fans about the anniversary of 9-11 and wound up getting a lesson in American freedom. | 09/07/11 14:22:39 By - Bud Kennedy

Commentary: These Texans back Sarah Palin, not Rick Perry

Somewhere deep inside the Days Inn in Clive, Iowa, a sleeper cell of Texans gathered this weekend to overthrow the Republican presidential front-runner. | 09/06/11 13:26:48 By - Bud Kennedy

Commentary: Huntsman differs from GOP candidates

On the surface, Jon Huntsman’s prescription for righting the nation’s fiscal woes is standard Republican fare: cut spending, rein in entitlements, reform the tax code and pass a balanced-budget amendment. But dig in a little deeper — ask whether he insists on the balanced-budget amendment that the House passed this summer, the one that goes far beyond what he and nearly all of the nation’s other governors have lived with, undermining majority-rule by turning tax policy over to a minority in either house of the Congress — and you hear one of the essential differences between the former Utah governor and U.S. ambassador to China and the rest of the GOP presidential field. | 09/06/11 13:17:06 By - Cindi Ross Scoppe

Commentary: Idyllic Chitral defaced in the name of God

On August 28, the pristine Himalayan region of Chitral became the latest of my favorite places in the world to be desecrated by murderous thugs who kill in the name of their intolerant and violent concept of God. | 08/31/11 13:59:05 By - Ben Barber

Commentary: NRA always gets what it wants

You might not have figured sleepy little Groveland, Fla., to be a hotbed of pointy-headed-liberal anti-gun predilections, with local laws restricting patriotic Americans’ God-given right to pack heat anywhere and anyhow they the damn well see fit. | 08/31/11 12:14:54 By - Fred Grimm

Commentary: Even presidents need a vacation

President Barack Obama is scheduled to end his vacation on Saturday and return to Washington, and most of us know how he feels. Well, sort of. Most of us don't spend a significant part of our vacations being briefed by our national security team on the progress of rebels in Libya or answering questions from the press about a rare East Coast earthquake. But most of us know how the end of a vacation feels. | 08/26/11 12:42:59 By - James Werrell

Commentary: Should college athletes be held to higher standards than politicians?

They should have known better than to allow themselves to be lured to the waterfront mansion of an ingratiating, puffed up, money-flashing Ponzi schemer or to the wild nights he orchestrated on his yacht or on South Beach. | 08/24/11 12:05:40 By - Fred Grimm

Commentary: 'Jersey Shore,' Super committees and other conundrums

In the American spirit of problem-dodging and finger-pointing, today I offer 21 questions (but absolutely no answers). | 08/23/11 06:09:37 By - Peter Callaghan

Commentary: Sarah Palin sneaks into Kansas City and nobody knows why

News flash: Sarah Palin was in town Monday.

You didn’t know that? I didn’t know it until the next day. Turns out, nobody knew it.

Not the police. Not GOP insiders. Not the high-dollar money folks. Not the Vitae Foundation that brought her to Kansas City last September. Nobody. | 08/22/11 11:59:02 By - Steve Kraske

Commentary: Congress must balance the budget and burden

Something has gone terribly wrong in Washington, DC. Over the last two decades, both Republicans and Democrats have put our country in a financial dilemma largely caused by one simple fact: The government borrows nearly 45 cents for every dollar it spends. The debt-ceiling fiasco almost brought the nation to the edge of a fiscal precipice. | 08/21/11 07:01:15 By - Henry Bloch

Commentary: Warren Buffett sparks much-needed debate on tax fairness

Conservatives talk a lot about "personal responsibility" in any discussion about the poor and entitlements. But when someone such as Warren Buffett urges Congress to stop coddling the super-rich and calls on fellow billionaires to share in the sacrifice needed to solve the nation's financial crisis, he gets blasted as a hypocritical elitist. | 08/19/11 12:30:50 By -

Commentary: Bachmann may be a 'submissive wife' but she definitely isn't weak

One must tread carefully when asking a woman if she’s a submissive wife. I did so by asking my wife through email in the guise of doing field research for work. | 08/18/11 13:26:46 By - Issac Bailey

Commentary: Did Molly Ivins say that about Rick Perry?

Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced last Saturday that he is running for the Republican presidential nomination. Here are excerpts of columns from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram by the late, great Molly Ivins. Ivins covered the Statehouse in Texas for decades and spread her barbs widely. One frequent target was Perry, whom she called "The Coiffure" and "Gov. Goodhair." | 08/18/11 12:10:34 By - Molly Ivins