The Christian Science Monitor

Arguments Mount for a National Healthcare System (Christian Science Monitor)

...In the current campaign season, Senator McCain calls for dozens of reforms to bring down costs and make expenditures more effective in health results. And he states, "we can and must provide access to healthcare for all our citizens." His proposals, though, don't fully embrace the uninsured.

Shannon Brownlee, a senior fellow at the centrist New America Foundation, charges that McCain is "so wedded to the free market that he… more

After an unexpected show of strength at a rally on Monday by supporters of the Palestinian Fatah movement in the Gaza Strip, rival Hamas forces – which control the area – moved quickly to arrest hundreds of Fatah activists, increasing the likelihood of more conflict in the territories.

The Palestinian split into two camps, a Fatah willing to compromise with Israel and a Hamas still insistent on refusing to recognize the right of the Jewish state to exist, and the newly… more

As baby boomers enter the starting gate into retirement, the cost of America's entitlement programs – foremost, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid – is projected to balloon to levels that are unsustainable.

Already, those three programs make up 40 percent of the federal budget. If reforms are not enacted, Social Security will eventually go bust; in 40 years, on the current path, the two medical programs alone could equal the size of today's entire federal budget according to the US… more

Having belatedly realized that Cuba's communist regime is not doomed to collapse simply with the passing from power of Fidel Castro, the Bush administration is launching new pro-democracy initiatives with the decades-old U.S. hope of fostering a shift from communism.

But little suggests that the road to a democratic Cuba is suddenly open to new U.S. measures - or to renewed American pressure. Fidel's brother Raul has consolidated control of the Cuban system since the elder Castro relinquished power… more

In 1990, newspapers around the country profiled the story of Grace Capetillo, a welfare mom from Milwaukee who, after managing to save $3,000 in the bank, was hauled into court by the county Department of Social Services and charged with fraud. Having breached the limit on allowable assets, Ms. Capetillo was found guilty and ordered to pay a fine of $1,000, spend down another $1,000 of the money she had worked hard to save, and promise not to save again… more

...Daniel Levy, a former peace negotiator for Israel [and director of the Middle East Policy Initiative at the New America Foundation], says on his blog Prospects for Peace that it appears Israel is less committed to the US desire for regime change in Syria out of practical considerations, especially since one winner from any major political change in Syria could be that country's Muslim Brotherhood, which is aligned to Israel's enemy, the Palestinian Sunni militant group Hamas.

"Indications are… more

We completely agree with the July 10 article, "America becomes a more 'adult-centered' nation." Not only are couples showing less interest in children but so are policymakers. The Urban Institute recently released a report detailing that from 1960 to 2006, federal spending on children's programs declined from 20.1 to 15.4 percent of domestic spending. Federal spending on children's programs is projected to decline from 2.6 to 2.1 percent of gross domestic product in the next 10 years. Family… more

When Kestutis Dziautas enrolled in Moscow's KGB college in 1985, he wasn't aware, he says, of the Soviet secret police's role in executing and imprisoning hundreds of thousands of fellow Lithuanians decades earlier. Likewise, he says, he didn't know that KGB agents were still the feared foot soldiers of a ruthless regime.But neither his claim of naivete, nor the fact that he spent only four months working for the KGB before the fall of communism, was enough to… more

It's no secret that labor unions are struggling with declining membership and loss of negotiating clout, but don't tell that to the hundreds of activists who gathered Friday for a rally outside the Hilton Hotel at Los Angeles International Airport...

Analysts note that the city is a major entry point for immigrants, legal and otherwise, who tend to work at low-wage jobs in numbers large enough to have some collective impact. It has active environmental and religious communities, which are… more

A meeting of Arab and Muslim leaders here that ended Thursday provided a venue for Saudi Arabia to put some distance between itself and the US, hand-wringing about the possible spread of Iraq's civil war, and negotiations to resolve the growing crisis between Iran and Britain...At Thursday's summit, Arab leaders reaffirmed their support for the Saudi proposal, which offers full recognition of Israel by the Arab states in exchange for a return of Palestinian land seized in the… more