It is disillusioning when senators of the stature of Mr. Charles Schumer (D-NY) resort to wrongheaded, discriminatory, and questionable policy for the sake of narrow political interests even in safe Senate seats (in this case the senator is proposing a special Ireland E-3 VISA to appease the Irish lobby in...

Do you think someone with an MS in Poultry Science from Kansas State University should be ahead in line to get a U.S. green card compared to a Stanford or Harvard MBA?

That is what Congress is likely to propose next month judging by the trends in immigration reform proposals...

A clarification before we get started: I do not advocate big government. In my view, the U.S. government should strive to lower tax collections and substantially lower spending.

However, in the context of Americans having voted to enlarge government, I advocate firmly for across-the-board tax hikes on 100 percent...

Dear Ecuador,

We would like to admonish you for showing courage that is expected (only in principle) of a permanent member of the UN Security Council. We remain extremely concerned by your display of moral rectitude as it shows your poor understanding of modern-day statecraft and makes us look really...

A lot has been said about the legal future of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The Supreme Court may be supreme, but a few laws, namely those of nature and evolution, are outside its jurisdiction. Nature's own precedents hint at how universal access to health care...

America's national politicians are usually above blatant vote-bank focused identity politics. That might not apply to Senator Scott Brown (R-MA).

Mr. Brown is facing a tough election this fall. Many voters in Massachusetts are of Irish descent. So, Mr. Brown is eager to pass a bill...

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates 346 million people worldwide have diabetes. 5-10% of these are expected to be juvenile (or Type 1) diabetics. In 2004, an estimated 3.4 million people died from consequences of high blood sugar and 80% of the deaths came from low- and middle-income...

Few events in history, if any, are simultaneously as innocuous and revolutionary as the invention of the printing press. As a fundamental enabler of the Reformation and Renaissance, it helped lay the intellectual foundation for the modern world. Cheaper, mechanically printed books meant access...

Aug 2, Washington DC. The saints of Mount Rushmore have perhaps never been rushed more. Yesterday, the US narrowly averted default in a highly unanticipated resolution that raised the debt ceiling. So was this a "One signature by Obama, a giant relief for mankind" moment? Not really. It turns out...

2nd April, 2011

Dear Mahatma

Today I witnessed the Indian team lift the cricket world cup for the first time in my life. I have never felt so proud.

The country you fathered for us has known many exceptionally joyous moments since we emerged from colonial rule. Today...

Consider three Americans: a gay businessman who wants to lower taxes; a scientist who teaches evolution but opposes amnesty for the illegal; an agnostic woman professional who wants lower government spending but advocates abortion rights.

Here's the good news about these three: All three have jobs.

Here's the really bad...

After having traversed a significant distance by terrestrial standards you are standing on the curb of a large airport waiting for a rickety van from your car-rental company that is expected to saunter in at a jovial pace. When, after the stipulated seven minutes, too short to get through an...

These lines, etched in bronze, embellish the Statue of Liberty and also articulate the sentiment of this great American emblem:

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
...
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my...

Two things all entrepreneurs will agree with: Capital is good and more capital is better. Healthy levels of capital have been critical for enabling the biotech and digital revolutions in the US. The clean technology (cleantech) innovation system is different. It also consumes capital differently. The US significantly risks missing...