New York Times

... staffed by government employed doctors and health care providers, see Phillip Longman's book Best Care Anywhere, Why VA Health Care Is Better Than Yours ... and more »

In the Polish-Russian dispute over what happened in 1939, rival myth-making is being driven by domestic political calculations on both sides. Polish right-wing politicians including the present president have used the memory of 1939 and the alleged continuity of Soviet and Russian policy to whip up nationalist feelings and bolster their support. In Russia, the Putin-Medvedev administration also has mobilized Russian nationalism and has avoided condemnation of many Soviet crimes, since it itself is largely based on institutions

The "war" between science and religion is notable for the amount of civil disobedience on both sides. Most scientists and most religious believers refuse to be drafted into the fight. Whether out of a live-and-let-live philosophy, or a belief that religion and science are actually compatible, or a heartfelt indifference to the question, they're choosing to sit this one out.

Still, the war continues, and it's not just a sideshow. There are intensely motivated and vocal people on both sides making… more

''They've been effective in constraining what the public plan might become,'' said Len Nichols, who directs health programs for the nonpartisan New America ...

Tim Wu, a professor at Columbia who specializes in telecommunications law, copyright and international trade, said, “There's something very unseemly about ... and more »

One person who has thought about the parallels that do exist between the way the two regimes try to control their populations is the journalist Steve Coll...

But advocates for broad changes to the health care system say Congress can succeed only by making sure health reform goes beyond giving every American a buyer-beware insurance card. One such person is Len Nichols, a health economist for the New America Foundation.

Health care reform worth the name would accomplish two things: (1) quality, affordable coverage for all, and (2) a high-quality health system that is economically sustainable. These goals are linked --one cannot be achieved without the other. We must summon the courage to do bold reforms, not timid half-measures, when the going gets tough.

But Afshin Molavi, an Iran expert at the New America Foundation, said that the vast majority of Iranians today want better relations with the United States, and middle-class Iranians in particular, he said, were hoping that the Iranian regime would ...