Opinion

The Nation -- After weeks of Minnesota recount wrangling over the close contest between Republican Senator Norm Coleman and Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party challenger Al Franken, the state canvassing board has certified Franken as the winner.

Opponents and enemies of Israel are in full hue and cry over Israel's attack on the terrorist organization Hamas and its government and military installations in Gaza. The main criticism is that the Israeli response to the rocketing of southern Israel is "disproportionate." There is little, if any, dispute that Israel's goal of ending all rocket attacks on Israel and its civilian population, is reasonable and indeed sanctioned by international law.

Better to keep silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg doubtless wishes she had heeded this admonition.

Has Israel overreacted to attacks from Gaza?Regarding the Jan. 2 Opinion piece, "Israel's 'victories' in Gaza come at a steep price": In the mainstream American media, I rarely see articles that explain how Palestinians suffer under Israeli oppression. I think most Americans and Israelis must not know about this cruelty.

Cambridge, Mass. - I hear the voices of my friends in Gaza as clearly as if we were still on the phone; their agony echoes inside me. They weep and moan over the death of their children, some, little girls like mine, taken, their bodies burned and destroyed so senselessly.

WASHINGTON -- World history is filled with dramatic, often heartbreaking and occasionally redemptive stories of great marches.

Washington (The Weekly Standard) Vol. 014, Issue 16 - 1/5/2009 - Americans have a deep and understandable aversion to gasoline taxes. In a culture more single-mindedly devoted to individual freedom than any other, tampering with access to the open road is met with visceral opposition. That's why earnest efforts to alter American driving habits take the form of regulation of the auto companies--the better to hide the hand of government and protect politicians from the inevitable popular backlash.

Washington (The Daily Standard) - NOW WE KNOW how President Bush reads so many books. It's a "discipline deal," the president says. "I don't watch TV," he says. And he reads every morning while doing an hour of exercise and on the many long flights aboard Air Force One.

Washington (The Daily Standard) - Lot's wife looked back at a scene of devastation and was turned into a pillar of salt.

Every January for 20 years I've written an "only" column. The theme's the same: No little dog trick of the writer's art will sharpen your style quite so effectively as the proper placement of "only." And its mastery is no trick at all.

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. -- Exactly a year ago, like almost everyone else, I knew only a couple of things about Sen.

Fresh off my triumph over Kwanzaa, I thought I'd mention a couple of other facts that some of us are forced to keep repeating because liberals refuse to learn.

WASHINGTON -- Again.

Look who's coming to lunch. The old guy who flopped as a president, triumphed as an ex-president and has become the conscience of the nation, maybe the world.

Creators Syndicate - If you think the bad economy has "solved" America's immigration problems, welcome to your end-of-the-year reality check. It's certainly true illegal crossings from the south are down and that many foreign workers are returning to their native lands as work dries up. But border chaos, haphazard enforcement, massive backlogs and deportation negligence remain the order of the day.

Creators Syndicate - Karl Rove's recent revelation of President George W. Bush's passion for books wasn't a surprise to me. In a Wall Street Journal column last week, Rove explained that for the last three years, he and the president have had a friendly rivalry to see who could finish more books during the year. Rove won each year — but the president was no piker. In the three years of the competition, the president read 186 books to Rove's 250.

Creators Syndicate - On the eve of the New Year, Gov. Rod Blagojevich, charged with conspiring to sell the Senate seat of Barack Obama, put the ball back squarely in the court of a Democratic Party that had disowned him.

Creators Syndicate - Just for a lark, I decided to google "international condemnations of Hamas" this morning.

Creators Syndicate - The Hartford Courant recently reported on a somewhat shocking teenage contrast.

As Israeli ground forces continue to fight their way through Gaza, there's been no shortage of commentary on the causes and possible consequences of the current conflict.