North Korea is not an easy issue. I’ve dealt with it since the early 1990s, beginning at the Center for Strategic & International Studies. I had few answers then, and I still have few today.

It also is not a partisan issue. For over 60 years, Democrat and Republican presidents alike have suffered the daunting challenges posed by this belligerent dictatorship. Some responded weakly, some hawkishly, with neither party characterized by a single response. Read More»

On Nov. 4, 2008, something incredible happened, something that will never again allow me to predict or trust the American electorate, regardless of the great corrective that happened this Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2010.

For one, the American voter decisively elected as president a man that the widely respected, non-partisan National Journal had named the “most liberal member of the Senate” in 2007, to the left of even Barbara Boxer, Ted Kennedy, and Hillary Clinton. Read More»

[Editor’s note: This article first appeared in USA Today.]

The recent poll by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life is generating much discussion over its provocative finding that an increasing number of Americans (nearly one in five) believe that President Obama is a Muslim. The survey was completed before Obama’s recent comments endorsing the construction of a mosque near Ground Zero. Read More»

The blogosphere is burning red, consumed with fury over President Obama’s announcement — made at the end of the news cycle, with talk-radio on weekend break — that he supports the construction of a mosque near the downed World Trade Center buildings. Read More»

This week marks 65 years since the United States dropped the atomic bomb. On Aug. 6, 1945, President Harry Truman delivered a “rain of ruin” upon Hiroshima, Japan, with Nagasaki hit three days later, killing 100,000 to 200,000.

Truman’s objective was to compel surrender from an intransigent enemy that refused to halt its naked aggression.

The barbarous mentality of 1940s Japan was beyond belief. An entire nation lost its mind, consumed by a ferocious militarism and hell-bent on suicide. Read More»

I’ve never participated in a Tea Party rally. My natural habitat is a classroom or behind a keyboard. That said, I’ve had a lot of contact with Tea Party people, and, of course, I hear the angry charges from those doing their worst to discredit the movement. For what it’s worth, here are some personal experiences and observations:

The first time I was contacted for a Tea Party event was by a Pittsburgh woman named Patti. She called last spring. I asked: Who’s behind this Tea Party business? Is the Republican Party running this? Read More»

‘Tis the season .... That is, to not refer to the Christmas Season as the “Christmas Season.”

Of course, that’s old news. But what’s new news, or recent news, is the bewildering refusal in some quarters to call a Christmas tree a “Christmas tree.” Unfortunately, this isn’t new to those of us from the Pittsburgh area. On that, I’d like to enlighten folks around the country, hopefully providing some exposure to something that merits national ridicule. Read More»