Just follow the money. The opium fields in Afghanistan supply 93% of the world’s production of heroin and is the single largest revenue producer for that impoverished country’s gross national product, according to United Nations and U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency reports. After the Soviets gave up and left Afghanistan, the Taliban destroyed the crops under the guise of religious purity and received millions of dollars from the United States and other countries for their efforts on the War...

As a parent, I would think Caroline Maria McNeal of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, wanted to do the very best for her daughter Brittany. Unfortunately, as school secretary at Huntingdon Area High School, she took it a step too far. The state attorney general Thursday filed 29 criminal complaints of unlawful use of a computer and 29 counts of unlawful altering of public records against McNeal involving improving her daughter’s test scores in a case dating back to 2007 when Brittany was a junior at...

I’ll let others proclaim the significance of Michael Jackson’s contributions to music and entertainment as the legendary “King of Pop.” I considered him weird. It was best described by Johnny Carson in an opening monologue of The Tonight Show years ago when the hometown Dodgers led the league in fielding errors. “What does the Dodger infield and Michael Jackson have in common?” Carson asked. “They all wear gloves on their left hand for no apparent reason.”

Americans love a juicy scandal spiced with sex, intrigue, lies and ultimate redemption, especially when it involves a rather high-profile person such as Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina. It would not surprise me if in Sanford’s high school yearbook he was voted the least likely senior to have an affair, let alone writing steamy emails to his paramour at a time his political party was considering him on a short list for vice president of the United States. In his public persona, Sanford exuded...

President Barack Obama said at his press conference today that the most important health care reform is reducing costs. Mr. President, do I have a plan for you. There’s actually one in the Senate that answers your criteria that includes kind of a public option, a hybrid, one could say. For more than a year, the U.S. Senate has had a universal health care reform plan before it that could be revenue neutral in 10 years compared to other plans that carry a $1 trillion price tag over the next decade. Mr....

For diabetics who own pets it comes as little surprise that dogs are being trained to warn diabetic owners when their blood glucose levels fall dangerously low. For diabetics who live alone and for young children, this is a big deal. This phenomenon has been discussed in anecdotal incidences by diabetics in published letters to the American Diabetes Association monthly magazine for years. Man’s best friend has been trained to sniff out certain cancer cells, illegal drugs and explosives. A survey...

I was reduced to tears reading the story of Khadijah Williams in The Los Angeles Times. It is the drenching, heart-warming story of a homeless girl overcoming incredible odds and earning a full scholarship to attend Harvard University. It is required reading for anyone believing our public education system is in the tank. In Khadijah’s case, the system worked with help from a benevolent family in Rancho Palos Verdes, a Los Angeles suburb. Read the entire story and you will agree it is what...

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has spoken. Last Friday’s national election results were not rigged because “the Islamic state would not cheat,” he declared. He warned the opposition would be “responsible for bloodshed and chaos” if the protests continued. At least eight citizens have been killed in the demonstrations so far. The ayatollah is the hammer, the lead mullah, in the Iranian government. His broad powers include ultimate authority over state security....

I’ve seen so many stupid things in my life I’ve grown immune to outrageous, gratuitous comments but this one by PETA pushed my alarm button where I refuse to take it in silence. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is a buzz because President Obama during another one of his endless television interviews swatted and killed a pesky fly. If it was a gymnastic event, as judge I would have awarded Barack a 10. Obama stopped the interview with CNBC’s John Harwood when the fly...

Memo to anyone traveling to the White House: Watch Your Step! Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton fell and injured her elbow this morning while walking to the White House. Her aids said she will undergo surgery soon. Several weeks ago Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor slipped and cracked an ankle at a Boston airport en route to visit the White House and Congress. Those on the injured list seeking appointments with the president and his staff is growing not unlike a midseason DL list in...

Most high school graduation ceremonies are behind us now but they’re still fuming over the one held Friday in the Bonny Eagle school district in Portland, Maine. Diplomas for two graduates were upheld because of excessive celebration in the eyes of the school superintendent. One grad blew kisses to his mother and the other accused of inflating and releasing a rubber duck and bouncing beach balls. The parents of both graduates were not amused, not by the antics of their sons but by what they...

From a westerner’s perspective whose only expertize on Iran is finding it on a map, Friday’s national election was a fraud. What else would you expect? When westerners apply U.S. standards for fair elections to a foreign country run by a theocracy, you’re guilty of wishful thinking and probably smoking an illegal substance. Get over it. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed victory for a second four-year term and has the military and ruling clerics to back it up. Opposition leaders...

President Barack Obama’s abrupt firing of the inspector general of AmeriCorps caught my attention only because by comparison his predecessor never seemed to have the gumption to axe anyone. But, then, digging into the details, the canning of IG Gerald Walpin is murky to say the least. It is a story of political intrigue, favoritism to a campaign supporter and two wings of the executive branch in cahoots with each other. Here are the facts in the case the best I can figure: Walpin, a George...

I had a Keith Olbermann WTF moment when I saw President Barack Obama on NBC shilling for that network’s Conan O’Brien show and several nights later making a cameo appearance on the Colbert comedy program. The Man is omnipresent on every news medium on the planet. All right, Mr. President, we get it. Enough’s enough. When liberal comic Bill Maher complains about Obama’s overexposure on television, you know the guy has crossed the line. “I’m still a fan, but there’s...

I can’t wait to hear the reaction of Republicans that the remote Pacific island nation of Palau is “honored and proud” to resettle about 17 Chinese Muslims now held as “non-combatants” at the Guantanamo Bay prison. “Palau’s accommodation to accept the temporary resettlement of these detainees is a humanitarian gesture intended to help them be freed of any further unnecessary incarceration and to restart their lives in as normal a fashion as possible,”...

Philip Mudd, a senior CIA official in the Bush administration, has withdrawn his nomination for intelligence chief at Homeland Security for fear of questions about his role in the CIA’s harsh interrogations of suspected terrorists. Vice President Joe Biden and other top Obama administration officials have withdrawn from attending a national mayors conference in Rhode Island for fear of crossing a picket line from local firefighters. In one case a highly qualified intelligence official would...

I feel like Jon Stewart of The Daily Show after taking a week off. Among the news items he missed was General Motors filing bankruptcy giving taxpayers a 60% ownership. Stewart thought it was cool owning a car company promised to be a more lean, green, mean machine. So what if it still fails? Stewart asked. “It’s insured.” Pause. Imaginary phone call. “By AIG? Yikes.” I missed some good stuff on Sonia Sotomayer, the Supreme Court nominee. Republicans no longer complained...

A defiant North Korea claims it will retaliate if its ships are boarded off its western coast and if the United Nations Security Council imposes stricter sanctions on its development of nuclear warheads. The announcement comes a day after the government said it would declare war on South Korea if provoked. The latest war of words has strained the patience of its neighbors China, Russia, Japan and South Korea. Not in Washington, apparently. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the U.S. has detected...

Sometimes I wonder if I’m the only person in the world who occasionally reads findings and conclusions by experts in the health care field and say to myself, “Well, duh!” Two such studies appeared on the Internet today. One debunked the practice many cardiologists prescribe for wearing tight stockings to prevent blood clots in heart attack patients. The other torched the myth that exercise will turn you into a fat-burning machine. But a third report, an essay written by a Long Island...

Consider yourself in the shoes of Sonia Sotomayor whose life over the past 54 years will be scrutinized, analyzed, demonized and idolized. I hope President Obama’s nominee to the United States Supreme Court is as tough as nails as she is purported to be. Think about it. In the span of four months we will know more about the current appellate court justice than we do about our own mothers. Such is the vetting process in our system of government which is more grueling than achieving sainthood...

In terms of world troublemakers, North Korea is the recalcitrant little kid on the block who tweaks his nose at the cops and gets away with it. The tiny impoverished nation announced Monday it successfully conducted an underground nuclear test. South Korea said it also may have fired three ground to air missiles into the Sea of Japan. A special meeting of the United Nations Security Council was called. Big frigging deal. UN sanctions have done nothing to thwart North Korea from its nuclear testing...

Four highly visible Republicans appeared on the political talk shows Sunday talking about the split threatening the party between moderates and conservatives. What I heard were two divergent themes: Rebuilding the party to win elections vs. purging the ranks to retain only the concepts endorsed by conservatives. One theme trumpets the future. The other is playing taps. Give credit to Colin Powell and Tom Ridge for bucking the shrill voices of the far right. They have the good fortune of being private...

You wouldn’t think Michigan is one of the hardest-hit states in terms of unemployment and economic meltdown by viewing their television ads promoting tourism. These are among the best, slickest and most professional ads seen on the tube in markets where they are shown. The cost to produce these ads must run in the millions of dollars whether they are paid out of local taxpayers pockets or a benevolent industry. Doesn’t matter. The question is, will they produce results? For a month now,...

President Barack Obama and former vice president Dick Cheney played dueling banjos Thursday over Guantanamo Bay prison and torture with each charging the other that their opposing policies made America less safe from terrorists. In some respects it was an historic confrontation not seen since former President Theodore Roosevelt took on his former protege William Howard Taft in 1912. The speeches were delivered back to back in separate locations in Washington D.C. and covered live by the cable news...

We’ve heard this before. General Motors, AIG and Citigroup are too big to fail. But, what about California, the most populous state in America? It is on the brink of insolvency. Less than 15% of the state’s registered voters Tuesday trashed five state special election ballot measures the legislature proposed in a first step of reforming the ever-increasing deficit now estimated at $25 billion. The blame game is running wild and most of the finger-pointing is directed at the voters. Michael...