The United States dodged another bullet — several in fact — when authorities foiled an alleged terrorist attack on the Fort Dix Army base in New Jersey by six men described by authorities as “radical Islamists.” Three of the men are illegal immigrants. White House press secretary Tony Snow said there is “no direct evidence” that the suspects have ties to international terrorism. Perhaps not in the traditional way that “ties” has been defined, but ... [full story]

The vast production of food in the United States is one of the greatest achievements of American free enterprise society of a superior system of patents that encourages the invention of fantastically efficient farm machinery. In one of America's favorite patriotic songs, we wax lyrical about our "amber waves of grain." The Clinton administration conned American farmers into being the principal lobbyists in 2000 for passage of Permanent Normal Trade Relations for China, which gave ... [full story]

Ken Bean of Springfield Township, Ohio, flies his flag at half-staff every day in tribute to the Americans who died on Sept. 11, 2001, as well as those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am old enough to remember Vietnam and the anguish so many adults experienced to have as a result. What I do not recall is the emotional disconnect that seems to overshadow this current conflict. Unlike our grandparents, nothing has been asked ... [full story]

My friends say I'm going to get hurt one of these days. There was, for instance, the time I was at a gas station when a young man pulled up, leaving his rap music booming with all the subtlety of a jet plane taking off. I couldn't help but hear the words. "Excuse me," I said to him. "Would you like to see your sister raped?" His face scrunched up like an album left too ... [full story]

In a speech at the National Urban League's 2006 annual conference, Time-Warner Chairman Dick Parsons said the reason why he pursued higher education was that it was expected of him - by his friends, parents and the community as a whole. There was no question in the matter. He was just brought up that way. Parsons' personal anecdote is something all black families should embrace and aspire to in light of an increasingly global economy ... [full story]

Last week in this space, prior to the Reagan Library debate by the GOP presidential candidates, I wrote about what I thought Ronald Reagan would do to encourage and expand our economy in the challenging months and years ahead. This week, I'm focusing on a "Reagan-like" foreign policy for the 21st century. Yes indeed it's presumptuous to speculate about what Reagan would do, but that's what "old quarterbacks" (and "old HUD Secretaries") do these days. ... [full story]

What was the motive behind 23-year-old Cho Seung-Hui's killing of 32 students and teachers at Virginia Tech? Why was he consumed with hate, resentment and bitterness? Cho was an English department major and senior. As a frequent lecturer on college campuses, I have discovered that the English departments are often the weirdest and/or the most left-wing. A look at the Webs ites of Virginia Tech's English department and of its professors reveals their mindset. We ... [full story]

A bane of editorial writers must be their occasional brush with futility. Sometimes the best intended advice falls flat. Thus it was, as Democrats flooded into San Diego last week for their state convention, a lead editorial urged them to avoid Bush-bashing. Voters crave serious solutions to the nation's problems, it said - better stick to talk of immigration reform, Social Security and the war in Iraq. It was as if the writer knew no ... [full story]

As the Republican candidates all gather at the Reagan Library for their first debate of the presidential campaign, what follows is my advice on "what would Ronald Reagan do?" I'll start with the economy and follow with foreign policy in next week's column. In giving thought to what Reagan would do about tax and budget policy, we must never forget the times in which he led our nation. When he was first sworn in in ... [full story]

Are you a crook? If so, you are dumb. D-u-m-b. Why risk being shot, or landing in lockdown for 10 years, when the government is doling out more money than a man can spend in lifetime? Last week, the Department of Homeland Security issued a report accusing FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, of shelling out more than $3 billion to Katrina contractors with bad credit and companies whose bookkeeping systems resemble a corn maze. ... [full story]

Three months into the wretchedly early 2008 presidential campaign, a startling truth is already evident. The presidential fields of both parties are strikingly vulnerable. Weak might be too harsh an assessment of these collections of earnest candidates, but both fields have a distinctly unsettled aura. Start with the Democrats. Hillary Clinton was supposed to be her party's "inevitable" choice. Turns out, she isn't so inevitable. Despite the Clinton money machine, Bill's potent networking and her ... [full story]

Nathan Williams, a 20-year-old Washington, D.C. native, lived a life of instability from the age of 2. His mother was a drug addict. His father was behind bars. Nathan struggled to adapt to his constantly changing living environment and even managed to keep up his grades in spite of tremendous obstacles and distractions at home. However, by the age of 16, he dropped out of school and struck out on his own - which meant ... [full story]

The 1968 assassination of Bobby Kennedy - third in a murder sequence that already had taken the lives of his brother John and Martin Luther King Jr. - loosed a tornado of demands for tougher gun laws. Congressional offices were deluged with mail. My own staff counted 1,400 letters in a single week. Gun control was expected to dominate our legislative schedule for the balance of that summer. But it did not, because a second ... [full story]