When I first heard that Newt Gingrich was mapping a Republican presidential bid ― he formally announced Wednesday ― I recalled what conservative Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said recently about the guy. It sure wasn’t pretty.Coburn was a Newt soldier back in the 1990s, when Newt was riding high as House speaker and conservative Pied Piper. Nevertheless, Coburn told C-SPAN in March that “having served

Viewpoints May 16, 2011

On Monday 50 years ago, a group of Army officers, led by Maj. Gen. Park Chung-hee, toppled the government and took power in a coup. Park ruled the nation for the next 18 years ― first as the coup leader and later as an authoritarian president ― before being assassinated by his intelligence chief.The anniversary is certain to rekindle a debate on the event’s historical meaning. The government ouste

Editorial May 15, 2011

If congressional negotiators fail to resolve their impasse over the federal debt ceiling, we may recall this moment in history as one of the nation’s worst since the morning Custer awoke thinking it might be amusing to go and annoy Sitting Bull.Ensuring the U.S. government’s full faith and credit is a matter of such consequence to the global financial system that everything else concerning the bud

Viewpoints May 15, 2011

The Monetary Policy Committee is holding its monthly meeting Friday to determine whether or not to keep the central bank’s benchmark rate intact. Among the things that must be taken into consideration is the real interest rate, which has remained below zero for the past five months.A key real rate, the nominal yield on three-year government bonds less the consumer price index, was minus 0.5 percen

Editorial May 12, 2011

Rival factions in the ruling Grand National Party have papered over their disagreements on who should represent the party now ― the floor leader or the chairman of the emergency committee on reform. But a similar conflict may surface anytime, as the power struggle, triggered by the party’s defeat in the April 27 parliamentary by-elections, is most likely to intensify in the months ahead.In the wak

Editorial May 12, 2011

Last year, California added 28 inmates to the state’s death row, eight of whom were sentenced in Los Angeles County. They aren’t in much danger of an early demise, however, thanks largely to legal delays, including a decision Tuesday by state officials not to pursue executions in 2011. The seemingly never-ending court battles mean that convicts in capital cases are far more likely to die of natura

Viewpoints May 8, 2011

Although the Americans have been gloatingly bandying about the death of Osama bin Laden since their “successful” operation at Abbottabad on Monday (May 2), doubts have continued to persist about the man whom they had identified as al-Qaida’s chief before taking his life. In fact, the burial of the body at sea tends to reinforce the suspicion of a questionable identity of the murdered person; if pr

Viewpoints May 8, 2011

In evaluating Osama bin Laden’s dubious legacy, it is important to note that there was nothing new about religiously inspired terrorism when this rich Saudi exile convened a small group of jihadists in his Peshawar, Pakistan, home in 1988 to found al-Qaida ― an organization designed to carry on the war waged so successfully against the Red Army in Afghanistan.Two of the earliest known terrorist gr

Viewpoints May 8, 2011