In a case legal experts say will redefine public corruption, two former California government officials were convicted on Tuesday of misappropriating taxpayer money, paying themselves inflated salaries, and doing little work in return. The LA Times has the story: During the month-long trial, prosecutors used a novel legal argument that Lynwood officials broke the law […]

“For besieged Syrian dictator Assad, only exit may be body bag,” warns an ominous title of a Washington Post dispatch from Syria today. Senior officials in the West see Assad “backing himself into an increasingly narrow corner” and, soon perhaps, going the way of Qaddafi: chased out of town, caught on the run, executed or […]

At the Huffington Post, Kil Huh, Director of Research at the Pew Center on the States, feeds Via Meadia with more ammunition in our ongoing struggle to publicize the coming pension disaster. Huh warns that 34 state pensions are less than 80 percent funded and falling, and underfunding of these pensions is just as much of a long-term problem […]

Japan’s assertion of its claims to disputed islands in the East China Sea has earned it stern rebukes from both China and South Korea. Tokyo released its annual defense white paper on Tuesday, and for the eighth year in a row it avowed ownership of the disputed Senkaku Islands. China also claims the uninhabited islets.Bloomberg […]

A while ago on this blog I commented on a judgment by a Texas court which ruled that so-called “imprecatory prayer” (that is, prayer that asks God to inflict harm) is protected speech under the first amendment of the US constitution.  The court asserted that there was no evidence that the prayer had actually harmed […]

As Governor Romney returns to the U.S., somewhat battered by foreign and domestic press responses to his three-nation swing, most observers are paying attention to the impact the turbulence will have on the presidential race.That’s a mistake; it won’t have much. We are still more than three months away from the election, and although political […]

Mitt Romney’s midsummer foray into foreign policy has left Democrats giddy with schadenfreude. More than his stumbling performance abroad, however, it’s the substance of Romney’s views that ought to really give voters pause.  Or, more precisely, lack of substance. With less than 100 days to go, Romney has yet to develop a coherent outlook on […]