Hard-liners might delay, but not deny, change in Iran Twenty years ago, Americans watched TV scenes from China that mirrored the recent protests across Iran. Exuberant people flashed V-for-victory signs. Young people were at the forefront. Just as important, the...

Independence Day Citizen soldiers. When Victor and Miguel Mendoza take the oath of allegiance to become U.S. citizens on July Fourth, the words "support and defend" will have special meaning to them. The brothers, Mexican immigrants who came to America...

Careful 'pain killers' don't become a killer Plain Talk By Al Neuharth, USA TODAY Founder This week's warning against two popular "pain killers" by a federal medical advisory panel following last week's death of Michael Jackson should alert us all...

A holiday message on hope and freedom Commentary By James Key I recently attended an art exhibit in Washington, D.C., featuring the work of world-renowned, Haitian-born artists. I was expecting to see bleak paintings that depicted that nation's lengthy history...

What people are saying about Supreme Court decision New Haven (Conn.) Register, in an editorial: "In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court not only cleared the way for New Haven Fire Department promotions, but offered a rare insight into...

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A higher gas tax is a better way to get green cars on the road.

Why would a 61-year-old civilian surgeon volunteer for Iraq?

Wal-Mart buys protection by selling out its competitors.

Another argument against importing this model to the rest of the health economy.

Democrats slow-roll aid to an ally.

Settlements, rockets and Iran.

We’re brilliantly programmed to act on the risks that confronted us in the Pleistocene Age but less adept with 21st-century challenges like climate change.

All of us in New York were happy to learn that Gov. Mark Sanford has been scheduling his assignations in our state. The airfare is cheaper than it is to Argentina. Plus, you can see “South Pacific.”

President Obama must leave Iran’s leaders dangling for the foreseeable future. He should refrain indefinitely from talk of engagement.

Basic geriatric knowledge is preventive medicine. Doctors and other health care professionals should have it in order to improve care for older people.

The government must be given wider latitude than in the past to monitor private networks and respond to computer threats.

To clean up the State Senate, New Yorkers need to demand an honest mapmaking commission and reform on campaign finance, ballot access, ethics and house rules.

Going forward, the debacle hopefully has taught us to set aside money for our veterans, crack down on fraud and be honest about the costs of war. Tuesday, the U.S. "stood down" in Iraq, finalizing the pullout of 140,000 troops from Iraqi cities and towns -- the first step on the long path home. After more than six years, most Americans are war-weary, even though a smaller percentage of us have been involved in the actual fighting than in any major conflict in U.S. history. We have relegated the car and suicide bombings to the inside pages of newspapers, accepting at face value that the "surge" has calmed things down enough so we can finally leave the whole sorry Iraq adventure behind us.

Why does there seem seems to be an undercurrent of pity for the adulterous South Carolina governor. Last week: What a thrill ride of news!

The slugger has angered some Dodger fans, but his case isn't just black and white. When Manny Ramirez rejoins the Dodgers lineup Friday after a 50-game suspension for use of a banned medication, fans will finally have their chance to transfix the black sheep with stares of disapproval. And they will. We love to pretend our baseball team is shinier and holier than others.

For years, the government and the army have not dealt with the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the tribal regions, but as the threat becomes clear, Islamabad will need international help. Has the Pakistani government, after years of vacillation, finally gotten serious about eliminating the Taliban threat? Maybe.

It'll cost the state about $1 billion to keep capital punishment on the books for the next five years. Is it worth it? When Tuesday's hearings in Sacramento on proposed changes in California's method of executing convicted murderers veered into a discussion of why solutions to the state's budget crisis ought to include the abolition of capital punishment, it was another example of how divided our attitude on this issue remains.

Online instruction would allow an institution faced with budget pressures to do more with less. It is time for an 11th University of California campus: a cyber-campus devoted to awarding online degrees to UC-eligible students.

The implicit message, delivered by the Supreme Court majority in two of the most important decisions of the term that ended this week, is that racial discrimination is no longer as big a problem as we once thought.

MOSCOW -- As Barack Obama packs for his trip to Russia next week, he should bring along a copy of "The Brothers Karamazov." For the modern Russia of Vladimir Putin is still struggling with the same political riddles that Fyodor Dostoyevsky described 130 years ago.

With Iran's hard-line mullahs and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps unmistakably back in control, Israel's decision of whether to use military force against Tehran's nuclear weapons program is more urgent than ever.

Hours before the House passed its cap-and-trade bill last week, freshman Democrats Tom Perriello and Frank Kratovil were pondering the political fallout of the votes they were about to cast in favor of a plan Republicans were denouncing as "cap-and-tax."

Congress took an important step for health care when it provided $1.1 billion to fund "comparative effectiveness research" as part of the stimulus legislation this year.

With the cap-and-trade bill passing the House of Representatives last week by seven votes, the eight Republicans who supported it were bound to feel some rapid political warming. Conservative Internet and radio accused them of single-handedly passing President Obama's "cap-and-tax" legislation, which is a myth; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi probably would have forced the requisite number of Democratic votes in the absence of Republican backing. But these eight Republicans were still termed "traitorous."

"Pastor urges his flock to bring guns to church"

Gov. Pat Quinn, House Speaker Michael Madigan, Senate President John Cullerton, do you think the people of Illinois expect too much of you?

Twenty-seven years after the still-unsolved Tylenol murders comes a fresh warning that over-the-counter painkillers can kill. Tamperproof packaging won't save us this time. We're poisoning ourselves.

There's an old joke about a fantastic three-legged pig and a farmer. In some versions, the pig saves the farmer's life. In another, it can talk. The punch line always comes after a visitor asks, "So how come he only has three legs?"

Public schools are filled with eager, fresh-faced youngsters, and prisons contain many rough-looking adults with uninviting personalities. But put aside that difference and you find some important similarities between the two places -- government-run facilities where individuals are held for a specific number of years without their consent, at the mercy of their custodians.