“The American people don’t want the government shut down, and they don’t want Obamacare. The House has listened to the American people.”That’s what Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, said at the GOP’s victory rally Friday after the House voted to pass a spending bill that cut all funding for the president’s health care law ― and took the country one step closer to a government shutdown on Oct. 1.The American people, alas, weren’t in the room to speak for themselves. But was Boehner right about the

Viewpoints Sept. 25, 2013

Most of the attention these days is on Syria, but there is also a growing problem in Egypt with global implications. Nine Egyptian policemen were wounded by a bomb in the northern Sinai Peninsula on Monday. The week before, suicide bombers killed nine soldiers in the peninsula. Shootings, kidnappings and bombings ― roadside, car and suicide ― have become routine occurrences in Sinai. And the burgeoning Islamist insurgency is spreading to other parts of Egypt. In early September, the interior min

Viewpoints Sept. 25, 2013

Controversy over the resignation of the prosecutor general, Chae Dong-wook, has swept the country. Led by a major conservative newspaper, some conservatives are accusing Chae of having an extramarital affair and fathering a child through it. The opposition parties and some liberal newspapers suspect that Cheong Wa Dae leaked files to the conservative daily to damage the character of the chief in the court of public opinion and force him out of his post. Some pundits claim that Chae was at odds w

Viewpoints Sept. 24, 2013

The behavior of the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives is simply bizarre. An institution with the power and authority to manage government finances and scrutinize the budget instead chooses to play dangerous fiscal games.Friday‘s vote to continue the lazy sequestration funding bill if the U.S. Senate and President Obama agree to shut down the Affordable Care Act was just weird.Scarier still, the federal government faces a mid-October deadline to adjust the borrowing limit so the countr

Viewpoints Sept. 24, 2013

Indonesians are taking to the streets to demand the government heed their complaints. Are they livid about corruption? No. Fed up with poverty? Not really. Angry over political gridlock? Not so much. It’s those damn bikinis.In recent days, the nation with the world’s largest Muslim population has been consumed by protests against the Miss World pageant finale Sept. 28, originally scheduled to be held near Jakarta. Muslim groups, including radical ones, have threatened violent attacks. The govern

Viewpoints Sept. 24, 2013

As part of the debate over intervention in Syria, the question of whether the U.S. is an exceptional country has once again bubbled up. Yes, says President Barack Obama, who invoked U.S. exceptionalism in his Sept. 10 speech on the need to respond to chemical weapons attacks in Syria. No, responds Russian President Vladimir Putin, arguing last week in a New York Times op-ed that the U.S. should refrain from striking Syria, and that “it is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves

Viewpoints Sept. 24, 2013

For lawmakers, Chuseok is a time to touch base with their constituents back home. During the holidays, they travel to their hometowns and listen to the voices of local residents. As in other years, most lawmakers went back to their hometowns during the long Chuseok break last week to get in touch with their constituents and hear what they had to say about major national issues.Now back in Seoul, they are sharing what they have seen and heard during their visits with party leaders to help them be

Editorial Sept. 23, 2013

The U.S. Federal Reserve has brought both good and bad news by deciding to delay scaling back its massive bond-purchasing program. The Fed has been printing money to inject liquidity into the financial system and thereby stimulate the U.S. economy. Each month, it has purchased $85 billion worth of Treasury and mortgage bonds to encourage people to borrow, spend and invest.Until early last week, the Fed was widely expected to take its first step toward rolling back the extraordinary stimulus meas

Editorial Sept. 23, 2013

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut ― Are too many of our most talented people choosing careers in finance ― and, more specifically, in trading, speculating, and other allegedly “unproductive” activities?In the United States, 7.4 percent of total compensation of employees in 2012 went to people working in the finance and insurance industries. Whether or not that percentage is too high, the real issue is that the share is even higher among the most educated and accomplished people, whose activities may be eco

Viewpoints Sept. 23, 2013

On Sunday morning, at the conclusion of Bo Xilai’s sentencing in Jinan, China, the court ― which had been tweeting the proceedings to Sina Weibo, China’s leading microblogging platform ― tweeted one last photo without comment. In it Bo, newly sentenced to life in prison for abuse of power, bribery and embezzlement, stands with his wrists extended outward, displaying the handcuffs that bind them. Posing on either side of him are two towering bailiffs with their white-gloved hands placed awkwardly

Viewpoints Sept. 23, 2013

Since his papacy began in March, Pope Francis has shown himself to be a man of small but substantial gestures.He exudes a pastoral charm ― whether cleaning the feet of prisoners, hugging a disabled child after Easter Mass or picking up the phone to comfort the distraught ― that didn’t always come naturally to his predecessors. He dresses modestly, lives austerely, speaks constantly of the poor and drives a 1984 Renault. He has reached out to atheists, gays and divorcees.In an interview released

Viewpoints Sept. 23, 2013