Some of the kinder commenters, perhaps predictably, suggested that the prospect of four weeks' "vacation" would only "incentivize" teen pregnancy -- and that if these girls are "irresponsible" enough to get pregnant, the school should not "institutionalize [its] approval," but rather force them to face the "consequences."

Right. Because teen motherhood is easier than school, and because a baby is not a "consequence." And because (what may amount to) showing young mothers the school door will help break the complex, multifaceted teen pregnancy cycle.

While the Democrats have spent much time and energy proposing sweeping reforms to increase access for the 47 million uninsured Americans, the Republicans have been warning that a move to "socialized medicine" -- which is how they characterize the government-run systems of most other industrialized nations -- would compromise the quality of care.
"I wouldn't say it (the last-place ranking) is a condemnation, because I think health care in the U.S. is pretty good if you have access," said one of the study's authors. "But if you don't, I think that's the main problem, isn't it?"

If Bush wants to pry time free from meetings in Jerusalem, it would be better spent on a tour of the Israeli separation barrier, a.k.a. fence, a.k.a. wall. Plenty of human rights activists who speak good English would be happy to guide him. The trip could give him a visceral feeling for why he should finally devote himself seriously to an Israeli-Palestinian agreement, instead of just dabbling.
In the end, the fence has shown the failure of techno-military thinking. In the short run, it has probably served as an impediment to terrorists, but an impediment is not a solution. At the same time, it has deepened the bitterness that feeds the violence. It is a Band-Aid over an abscess.

With technical support from the U.S. giant General Electric — along with companies in Japan, Austria and the U.K. — Suwung is installing equipment that will capture the landfill gases and convert them to electricity.
The benefits will be multiple: not only will the people of Bali get clean power, but less methane will reach the atmosphere, helping to reduce global warming. The local waste company that owns the landfill will be able to sell those greenhouse gas reductions on the international carbon market, and the entire process will keep Suwung's size sustainable, controlling Bali's growing litter problem.

Let me assure you, you ain't seen nothing, yet. What's important to understand is that this isn't just a mortgage or housing crisis. The financial giants that originated, packaged, rated and insured all those subprime mortgages were the same ones, run by the same executives, with the same fee incentives, using the same financial technologies and risk-management systems, who originated, packaged, rated and insured home-equity loans, commercial real estate loans, credit card loans and loans to finance corporate buyouts. The extent of those misjudgments will be revealed only once the economy has slowed, as it surely will.

First and foremost, Indiana's law is a "solution" to a problem that doesn't exist. The voting fraud it purports to address is illusory. And the means it employs needlessly make it far more difficult for some citizens—especially those who are low-income, elderly, or lack easy access to transportation—to vote. A photo-ID requirement, in fact, is essentially of no benefit in preventing voter fraud, and it disenfranchises scores of legitimate voters.

When I was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, I supported the current policy because I believed that implementing a change in the rules at that time would have been too burdensome for our troops and commanders. I still believe that to have been true. The concern among many in the military was that given the longstanding view that homosexuality was incompatible with service, letting people who were openly gay serve would lower morale, harm recruitment and undermine unit cohesion.
I now believe that if gay men and lesbians served openly in the United States military, they would not undermine the efficacy of the armed forces. Our military has been stretched thin by our deployments in the Middle East, and we must welcome the service of any American who is willing and able to do the job.

Clinton cleared away the doubts and struck an inspiring note in her victory speech, telling New Hampshire voters, "I listened to you, and in the process I found my own voice. I felt like we all spoke from our hearts and I am so gratified that you responded!" She was met with roaring applause. Clinton likened the narrow victory to her husband's famous "comeback" in 1992, when he battled back to a surprising second place finish in New Hampshire. Then she offered a much more important parallel, vowing to give America the "kind of comeback" that New Hampshire just gave her.

The bedrock values of birthright citizenship and equal protection for all immigrants came directly out of the debates over immigration of the 1850s - debates that sound remarkably like the one going on in Congress today. By 1860, German-born immigrants to the United States totaled 1.2 million out of about 30 million total, and thousands of Irish immigrants were arriving yearly. Prophets of the "Know Nothing" movement warned that these new immigrants were not like previous ones.
They did not assimilate; they owed allegiance to the pope; they insisted on speaking their own languages; they would subvert American institutions and destroy American identity.