Into the void of ex-dictator Hosni Mubarak comes a challenge for the United States to become an honest broker for peace between Israel and Palestine, to abandon preemptive wars, and to forsake its role as arms merchant to torturers.

Israel and the United States are not one country. Being pro-Israel should not wield so much power that it becomes a principal issue in American elections.

The truth is that the situation isn't really all that depressing. The problems are complex, confusing, and paralyzing, but the solutions are actually quite simple.

Who's in the bubble? Me or corporate Democrat Jane Harman, who took us to war in Iraq and votes for an onerous bankruptcy bill that makes it harder for the poor to climb out of debt?

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) has played an outsize role in the primary contest between Blue Dog Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) and progressive challenger...

The so-called smart money is on Harman in next Tuesday's primary, but the incumbent -- like the Israeli government -- has reason to worry. Sometimes, moral revulsion can topple defenders of the indefensible.

What happens when people enable leaders to follow the dictates of the powerful? These days, the answers are arriving in the form of a news drumbeat that's apt to seem like a dirge.

There have been rumbles lately about how teabaggers turned on Senate Robert Bennett (R-UT) and ended his political career because of his support for Bush's no-strings-attached Wall Street bailout bill in the fall of 2008. Bennett's not alone.

As we saw the other day, virtually the only way to turn the Senate health care bill into a positive would be to restore the public option.

Among Democratic loyalists, reflexive support for the latest line from the administration has made it easier for Obama to move rightward.

If we accept the 2010 COLA freeze, if seniors fail to grab their bullhorns, then we may be looking at another freeze in 2012, 2013 and beyond, while the Right continues to hammer away at the big lie -- that we cannot afford Social Security.

While Obama weighs Afghanistan policy options, the California Democratic Party's adoption of the resolution is the most tangible indicator yet that escalation of the U.S. war effort can only fuel opposition within the president's own party.

That Rep. Waxman and Rep. Harman stress her devotion to Israel as the catalyst for her re-election underscores to what extent their policies focus on the welfare of Israelis and not Americans.

In Congress, I will work to support affordable prices on biologics, so that victims of cancer, HIV, diabetes, Parkinsons, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis can afford the medicine they need to stay alive.

Regardless of which side of the religious and socio-political spectrum a child's parent or guardian is on, that child is innocent. Children are not billboards for hatred, malice and lies.