Atlantic.com has an interesting article about Newt Gingrich. According to Molly Ball, Newt Gingrich is a “man reduced.” He attracts more attention for having been bitten by a zoo penguin than for policy proposals. He barely rates mention at political functions and has not been taken seriously by the political world for some weeks now. Much of his empire of think tanks, book publishing, speaking engagements...

The Latin American reaction to the Sixth Summit of the Americas continues to roll in, and for those of us from the United States, it is not an encouraging one. How much diminished is U.S. influence in Latin America? Has Washington properly processed this dramatic geopolitical change? This analysis from Brazil’s Opera Mundi paints the picture of a Washington that has so far failed to absorb the changed...

Dixie Cups, now owned by the Koch Brothers “Think about the people as if they were storm troopers in Star Wars. They may be individually innocent, but they are guilty because they work for the Evil Empire.” — [48] Today is a profound anniversary, but not much celebrated because it seems an inconvenient truth: before we all learned to hate “Moooslems,” “Ayrabs”...

WASHINGTON — Instead of fighting a phony mommy war over what Hilary Rosen said about Ann Romney, we should face the fact that most families these days cannot afford to have one parent stay home with the kids. This is not about “lifestyle” or “values.” This is an economic struggle highlighting yet again the social costs arising from decades of stagnating or declining wages and growing...

With Egyptians headed to the polls on May 23 to choose the nation’s first democratically-elected head of state, columnist Dr. Hamdi Radwan of Egypt’s Amal al-Oumma (Voice of the Nation) offers his readers a look at the U.S. presidential race, using it to highlight what is lacking in Egypt’s nascent democratic system. His misconceptions are as interesting as his factual assertions. For Egypt’s...

“We must remember our history so we can find new reasons to justify the same mistakes.” I hope this is that election. The moment when it finally crumbles. . .the moment when all this righteous rhetoric is seen for what it is. . .political pandering and meaningless shell game shuffling. The tired narrative has been the claim of past Christian nation, past noble foundations, past glories rapidly...

I know some of our readers don’t like New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd. But sometimes you have to — begrudging as it may feel to some — give credit where credit is due. Starting with the title of her Times column today, “Phony Mommy Wars,” even our conservative friends will have to agree that they are phony — no one would dare go to war against our own Moms. Then, Dowd’s very first...

The Paradox of Mobility in America by Tina Dupuy We’re a species that has gotten around; we’ve wandered, pioneered and migrated to every corner of the world. The spear tip of technology is how we can get somewhere else: the wheel, the sailboat, the rocket. In short: we’re movers. We are now as mobile as we’ve ever been as a culture. Our phones are not tethered to any particular location....

Deng Coy Miel, Singapore This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Is Washington paying any attention at all to the demands and interests of its ‘Latin American partners’? According to this editorial from Mexico’s La Jornada, few people south of the U.S. border believe that the Summit of the Americas took into account the wishes of Latin Americans, starting with the issues of the inclusion of Cuba at all hemisphere-wide summits, a change in direction for...

RJ Matson, The St. Louis Post Dispatch This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Once again Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart is on the dime when it comes to media criticism and political observation: The Daily Show with Jon StewartGet More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Gary McCoy, Cagle Cartoons This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibied.

Having immigrated to the United States in pursuit of the American Dream, I was intrigued by the title of the New York Times story “Many U.S. Immigrants’ Children Seek American Dream Abroad.” As the story’s introduction focused on a Mr. Samir N. Kapadia who had arrived in the United States from India as a young child, became a U.S. citizen and was apparently doing very well in his career, I became even...

David Fitzsimmons, The Arizona Star This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Is the ‘conservative’ U.S. Supreme Court caught in a web of its own contradictions? According to Le Monde columnist Jean-Sébastien Stehli, a recent court decision that allows citizens to be strip-searched for almost any reason is no way to run a democratic society. For Le Monde, Jean-Sébastien Stehli starts off this way: By a five to four vote, conservative judges on the Supreme Court decided...

UPDATE II: After the firestorm generated by Hilary Rosen’s remarks on stay-at-home moms (See post below), and after the deep and — and sincere — umbrage taken by Ann Romney and so many others, Mrs. Romney over the weekend said this about that: It was my early birthday present for someone to be critical of me as a mother …That was a really defining moment, and I loved it. Now, on this one, I will...

In what may very well be the beginning of the much anticipated Taliban “spring offensive” in Afghanistan, the Taliban — some believe it is the Haqqani network, an offshoot of the Taliban — launched a coordinated series of attacks on the diplomatic quarter of Kabul, the Afghan Parliament and at least three eastern provinces on Sunday. Both the New York Times and the Washington Post are reporting...

Unlike a lot of others I do NOT agree that this week’s mini-firestorm over respecting mothers who stay at home was “manufactured” at all (and yes, I am in disagreement with MSNBC, some less partisan Republicans and almost all Democrats). I’ve known too many mothers (including my own) who raised children as not just a fulltime job but a fulltime job where they put in overtime that never...

What War on Women? by Kathleen McKinley Ann Romney had a very good two days. It all started with Hilary Rosen, Democrat strategist, saying Ann Romney couldn’t comment on economic issues because “she has never worked a day in her life.” Oh boy, for a PR girl, that was incredibly stupid. You don’t diss Moms. Any mother, working or not, will tell you how difficult it is to stay home with small children....