That illegal immigrants living in the United States place an economic burden on schools, hospitals, prisons and other public services is undeniable, but it's also true that they contribute to our economy and our society in myriad ways. Bullying them into leaving is counterproductive and downright mean. It's also shortsighted. Many immigrant families are blended, made up of legal immigrants, illegal ones and U.S.-born citizens. Harsh laws and deportations may satisfy the popular hunger for instantaneous immigration reform, but the result will be a legacy of anguish and resentment among millions of people who aren't going anywhere.

Warren Buffett has been all over the business press recently suggesting that the very rich, those on the Forbes 400 list, are taxed advantageously to the rest of the workforce. That it makes no sense that his tax bill as a percentage of income is lower than that of his secretary or housekeeper.

He is absolutely right.

It makes absolutely no sense that he, or I should pay a smaller percentage of our income than those who go to work 8 hours a day and have to save as much as they can to afford a vacation every year and stress out about whether or not they can pay their rent, mortgage or college for their kids.

While the president will give it high marks, in fact, DHS stands at the bureaucratic equivalent of early adolescence, which means it has taken both right and wrong steps, but is still struggling to decide what is important. It shows potential, but it needs more support if it is to achieve long-term success.

There is a growing gap between what DHS is expected to do -- secure our borders, protect critical infrastructure, share better intelligence, defend against weapons of mass destruction, and respond to disasters -- and its actual capacity to do them. The reasons for the gap have to do with strategy, priority, ideology, and politics.

Rice announced that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas would resume peace negotiations with Israel, despite Abbas's earlier position that he would only do so after a ceasefire in Gaza was in place.

Yes, Abbas needs the peace process in general. But politically, he can't very well sit down with Ehud Olmert while Israeli bombs are killing Palestinian civilians. He needs to wait a decent interval until the fury dies down. By agreeing to pretend to negotiate instead of pretending not to negotiate, all he did was reinforce his image as an American-Israeli puppet -- and he will get no closer to a peace treaty by being dragged to the table against his will. And having Rice announce the reversal? That was the icing on the cake.

Lately I find myself wondering: Why aren't more powerful Democrats in both the Obama and Clinton camps lobbying for a revote in Florida and Michigan? Is it simply about money? Sure, it would be expensive, but both candidates are raising money phenomenally.

And sure, the party would like to save some of that Democratic cash to fight John McCain in November. But I have to wonder, what's worse for Democrats: A protracted battle that results in a near-tie, with superdelegates carrying the day in Denver (leaving plenty of cash to fight McCain but one camp or the other furious), or a party whose coffers are maybe depleted (though I can't imagine that), but whose supporters know that democracy, though expensive, prevailed.

I'm not sure I can answer that question, but my gut tells me it's the latter.

Lower rates are just a reprieve. The loans are still debt traps, wired to adjust upward explosively if and when rates rise again. As such, they still need to be modified.

Lenders knew or should have known that the subprime loans of the bubble years were unsuitable for many of the targeted borrowers. People who invested in those loans also should have known better. But they all piled in because it was profitable while it lasted. Now they are not doing enough to clean up the mess they created. And the administration is enabling their inadequacy.