Until the finger-pointing stops, offshore moratorium must remain THERE IS no way the moratorium on deepwater oil drilling should be lifted this year — not after this week’s federal inquiry into the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster brought to light the incompetence and unaccountability among major players in the industry. Back in May, after

IN WELCOMING the world to the World Cup in June, South African President Jacob Zuma boasted that the tournament exemplified his country’s leading role for all of Africa. Sixteen years after a multiracial democracy emerged from the oppressive apartheid system, South Africa has a constitution that, as Zuma put it, “enshrines human rights to ensure

PRESIDENT OBAMA had it right the first time in talking about the mosque proposed near ground zero of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Speaking last Friday at the White House celebration of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Obama said, “The 9/11 attacks were a deeply traumatic event for

FOR ALL that the Republicans have done to kill and dilute legislation on climate change, health care, and financial reform, there is one issue that Americans want President Obama and the Democratic majority to buck up on: repeal of the Bush tax cuts on the rich. A Pew Research Center/National Journal Congressional

Obama can make Sherrod firing a teachable moment OF THE many ironies that continue to astound Shirley Sherrod, the most urgent is how the firing line was so white from the administration of the first African-American president. “One of the hard things I found out, when they were dealing with me, was that there was

PRESIDENT OBAMA must confront fresh revelations that the Afghan war itself and Pakistan’s alleged duplicitous participation remain out of control. On Sunday, The New York Times, the Guardian in London, and Der Spiegel in Germany published unflattering classified military documents leaked by WikiLeaks, an Internet whistleblower organization. As for the

THERE IS no need for BP CEO Tony Hayward to shun yacht races as Louisiana drowns in his oil. The Obama administration has ultimately assured BP smooth sailing through the slick. BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg, who said “we care about the small people,’’ should feel free to continue to patronize angry

WANT TO end whale hunting? Go whale watching. “You can have your whales, and benefit from them socially and economically, too’’ said Rashid Sumaila, a marine and fisheries researcher for the University of British Columbia. Sumaila is a co-author of a study this month in the journal Marine Policy that found

I wish we could import some of the outrage against the vuvuzela into more serious sports matters, such as banning of the tomahawk chop

A decade into the 21st century, the US remains one of the most primitve nations on the planet in parent leave