The government announced-quietly -- not at a news conference or on the front page of the Times or the Post -- that the 1000th U.S. Soldier had been killed in Afghanistan. No figure for the number of Afghans killed or U.S. soldiers maimed, blinded, or left paraplegic. What number are...

Remember Ian Flemings James Bond(007) fighting Dr. NO? We now have Barack Obama(008?) fighting the Party of 'NO.' Republican objective, both implied and even stated by some, is the failure of the Obama presidency, rather than the benefit of their constituents, who sent them to Washington, and pay their salaries...

Several years ago, the State of Oregon elected a physician as Governor. He (Dr. Kitzhaber) managed to convince the state legislature to pass a "public option" to cover health insurance for the poor and uninsured. Oregon has one of the strongest anti-tax organizations in the country, and no state income...

People who live in the Western, developed countries must re-define at least two concepts when discussing Afghanistan:

1. "Country". Western countries generally are similar, whether democratic or not, in having a leader, legislature, and bureaucracy that, more or less, controls and leads the nation. Afghanistan, on the other hand,...

If those who forget History are condemned to repeat it, we can expect a disaster. There may have been logical reasons to invade Afghanistan in 2001-2002, when we "defeated" the Taliban and "almost" caught Bin Laden. Then came the Iraq invasion, and Afghanistan was mostly ignored. Now we have...

A single-payer health care system in the U.S. seems desirable, but probably not attainable given the power of the insurance industry, for-profit medical corporations & other pressure groups. However, it may be possible to cover the estimated 47-50 million people who are uninsured with a plan that provides basic...

The current economic crisis appears to have been caused by a combination of greed, dishonesty and stupidity. The greed is said to be a part of human nature, but was overlooked by regulators who did not believe in regulation, arguing that self-interest would prevent these institutions from damaging themselves. Dishonesty...