The massacre at Virginia Tech drew shocked comment not only in the United States, but from the media in other countries as well. Canada’s Globe and Mail, for example, noted that even as deadly a massacre as the one at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., in 1999 failed to bring about a n

Civil commitment is a sanitized term for statutes that keep sex offenders behind bars long after they have served their prison sentences. Indefinite commitment laws of this kind have been rapidly increasing around the country, and thousands of people are being held far beyond their actual terms. As

The promise of a new era of peace in Northern Ireland will be realized on May 8, when the 108 members of the Northern Ireland Assembly meet and elect a 12-member administration. It is to be led by Ian Paisley, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, the largest Protestant party in Northern Irel

Might peace finally be possible in Northern Uganda? Over the course of two decades, the conflict between the Ugandan government and Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army has caused the displacement of almost two million people, with many thousands killed or raped. An estimated 30,000 chil

The reaction of Robert Gates, the new secretary of defense, to the failure to provide appropriate medical care to wounded veterans offers a striking contrast to the reaction of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to reports that eight United States attorneys had been fired for partisan political reaso

As presidents, neither George Washington nor Abraham Lincoln spent time worrying about schools. Since the Constitution did not assign care for education to the federal government, that became the states’ concern. Until after the Civil War, however, the states pretty much left it to families an