Newsday

Where were you on 9/11? All of us remember, and those memories give us thoughts and intuitions about what may come next.

On that Tuesday morning in 2001, nearly 3,000 Americans unexpectedly died. As for the 300 million of us who were mere witnesses, we knew that our lives were nonetheless changed forever. Like those who were alive during Pearl Harbor in 1941, or on the day that John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, it was obvious that all future… more

It’s not just "Bush’s Brain" that’s leaving the White House, but a whole generation of Republican theorizing that is being shunted aside. As Karl Rove exits, a newer conservative movement will enter -- which, come to think of it, is actually the older conservative movement that Rove & Co. sought to bury.

I first met Karl Rove in 1982, when I was a young White House staffer. Having known most top political operatives, at least on the Republican side, over the… more

So now they tell us that 73,764 American bridges last year were rated "structurally deficient" -- the same rating as the Interstate 35 bridge that collapsed last week in Minneapolis.

That doesn’t mean all those bridges are deadly dangerous, but it does mean nobody really knows. One might think, after 7,000 years of civilization, that the governing class would have figured out how to keep bridges from killing its citizens, but evidently our betters have had other priorities.

In the meantime, a… more

Finally, President George W. Bush has stumbled across a winning political-military strategy for containing Iran. Of course, it’s too bad that Saddam Hussein, a leading proponent of that strategy, is no longer around to help carry it out.

But Hussein’s anti-Iranian spirit lives on, embodied in the Bush administration’s new approach: selling advanced weapons to Saudi Arabia and other Arab regimes that fear and loathe Iran.

Unfortunately, the United States came to this position the hard way, after having made just about… more

Fifteen years ago, incoming President Bill Clinton promised a government "that looks more like America." Today, would-be President Barack Obama promises a government foreign policy that looks more like that of the world.

And ironically, Bill’s wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who once called herself the "agent of change," is now the guardian of the old policy order.

Obama promises "fundamental change" in America’s international relations, and he means it. When asked, during the July 23 Democratic debate, if he would be "willing… more

If you like America’s immigration policy, you’ll love America’s trade policy. Because the same people are giving you both -- even if they can’t be bothered to worry about the details.

To put it bluntly, in Washington today, globalist theory takes precedence over localist well-being. Or, to put it even more bluntly, the elites in Washington seem to care more about their international deals than about ordinary Americans.

The immediate issues at hand are proposed free trade agreements between the United States… more

Newt Churchill? Newt de Gaulle? Is there a 21st-century parallel between those 20th-century leaders and the former speaker of the House?

Newt Gingrich’s legion of critics and rivals would beg to disagree, but the analogy is tantalizing.

Winston Churchill was 65 years old when he became prime minister of Great Britain in 1940. He had been in and out of high office for three decades, not always having enjoyed success in power. But on big issues, Churchill was stone-cold correct. Before and… more

What’s made in China -- death? Is the principle of free trade really more important than the health of our citizens? So far, at least, we know the answer.

Let’s make four points:

First, it’s darn scary to learn that Chinese-manufactured toothpaste on our store shelves could be poisonous. There have been only close calls here, as far as we know -- with the long-term health effects, of course, yet to be determined. But in Panama, more than 100 people are known… more

Here’s some news -- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a huge hit. And so the question: Why?

OK, "Pottermania" is not really news. Every year or so, a Harry Potter movie sells a billion dollars’ worth of tickets worldwide, as another billion in books and merchandise flies off the shelves.

True to form, this latest film, according to boxofficemojo.com, grossed $140 million in its first five days, the sixth-highest take in movie history.

Now let’s return to the question,… more

What if we can’t all get along? What if it really is a cruel world?

Those questions become more relevant as we evaluate the latest terror news: On Tuesday, Michael Chertoff, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said he had a "gut feeling" that an attack might be coming. And the same day, ABC News’ Brian Ross reported that the White House had been convening emergency meetings.

Now of course, some will dismiss all this as "wag the dog"-type fear-mongering. But… more