In less than a year we have seen the bankruptcy of financial and industrial behemoths once thought impregnable: Lehman Brothers, Chrysler and GM. Selectively employing the mantra “too big to fail” with companies such as AIG and Citigroup, the U.S. government has sought to reassure the American public that it is acceptable for other large corporations to endure the tribulations of Chapter 11 reorganization; that bankruptcy is actually a healthy business process that will restore profitability to big companies overwhelmed by debt and the consequences of the Global Economic Crisis. …

HERMOSILLO, Mexico — A fast-moving fire killed 31 children in a day care center in northern Mexico despite desperate attempts of firefighters who punched through the walls and fought their way through flames to rescue babies, toddlers and others trapped inside.
At least 25 children and five employees were hospitalized after Friday’s fire in ABC day care in the city of Hermosillo, said Jose Larrinaga, a spokesman for investigators in the state of Sonora, which borders Arizona.
Some of the injured suffered severe burns and might be taken to U.S. hospitals, Sonora …

WICHITA, Kan. — Hundreds of people gathered Saturday to honor slain abortion provider Dr. George Tiller, and a longtime friend eulogized him as a passionate and generous man who repeatedly overcame difficult challenges.
Tiller’s funeral at College Hill United Methodist Church also drew small groups of protesters.
During the service, Tiller was remembered for his generosity and sense of humor.
“Dear God, get heaven ready, because Mr. Enthusiasm is coming,” said Larry Borcherding, of Overland Park, who first met Tiller a half-century ago when both were students at the University of Kansas. “Heaven …

Near the start of his much-anticipated speech to the Muslim world, President Obama described himself as “a student of history;” by the end it was clear that he needs to get back to the classroom.
For all its well-intentioned rhetoric, President Obama’s speech was, sadly, conceptually flawed, empirically challenged, and politically blind to the daily realities that drive hundreds of millions of Muslims to increasing despair.
Conceptually, the President’s goal was clearly to help correct the mistaken notion shared by so many Muslims and Americans of the notion of an essential conflict …

In the 48 hours since President Obama’s speech in Cairo, Israeli journalists and pundits have had a lot to say. Their comments offer insights into U.S. foreign policy that many American observers might not get at home.
Much of the Israeli media commentary is conducted in Hebrew, but key outlets offer English editions and translations. These sources provide Americans with a window into the debates occurring across Israel’s dominant Jewish majority.
In the hours after Obama concluded his speech, Israeli commentators were particularly struck by his implicit linkage of Palestinian …

Now that Bush administration officials have launched a major campaign to persuade us that torture “worked,” perhaps it’s worth recalling that George W. Bush’s own FBI director said in an interview last year that he wasn’t aware of a single planned terror attack on America that had been foiled by information obtained through torture.
Robert Mueller, who was appointed by Bush in 2001 and remains FBI director under Obama, delivered that assessment at the end of this December 2008 article in Vanity Fair on torture:
I ask Mueller: So far as …

The Bush administration did not inform Congress that it had waterboarded detainees in classified briefings, after the agency had already done so, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) charged Thursday.
Pelosi told reporters that the administration officials only told her and those in a classified briefing in the fall of 2002 that they believed they had the legal authority to do so, based on Office of Legal Counsel memos which have recently been released by the Obama administration.
“In that or any other briefing…we were not, and I repeat, were not told that …

Hey, I guess it’s time to talk more about this, but remember, we can’t comment on current investigations.
As part of the craigslist customer service team, even I’ve worked with cops and DAs to send away a number of crooks.
Jim puts it better, in a new article:
Craigslist CEO: Crooks who use site will be caught:
The chief executive of Craigslist has a message for people who try
to use the popular Internet advertising site to commit crimes: You’re
going to get caught.
Violent crimes linked to Craigslist
ads in Boston and Minnesota have made headlines, but …

What happened today in Washington was, as Senator Russ Feingold called it, “historic.” Thirty-eight years nearly to the day when a young John Kerry shocked the nation with his fiery anti-Vietnam war testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Rick Reyes, a former US Marine Corporal, delivered an equally puissant testimony in which he expressed his disenchantment with the war in Afghanistan. How appropriate Kerry should be sitting directly across from Reyes as Committee Chairman, listening attentively as Congress heard one of the first major voices of dissent …

Responding to the somewhat overwrought critique that Obama did not properly stand up to hostile Latin American leaders during a trip to the region this past week, David Axelrod accused critics of missing the point.
“I think some people misinterpreted what happened this past weekend,” said the president’s close adviser. “I think the real message of what happened this past weekend with the Cuban regime’s response to the president’s decision on remittances, or the overtures from president Chavez. I think what has happened is that anti-Americanism isn’t cool anymore.”
The remarks were …