The present administration in Washington is against school vouchers and even permitted the very popular and demonstrably effective voucher program in the District of Columbia to die. But Obama resurrected that program as a part of the deal he struck with the Republican Party over the 2011 budget. What evidence is there that vouchers serve students well and give parents a valid option for educating their children?

President Barack Obama invited President Bush to join him as he traveled to ?ground zero? in lower Manhattan last week. President Bush declined the offer. In issuing this invitation, perhaps President Obama recognized how much he truly owes to President Bush. In fact, one could probably argue that President Bush?s decisions right after 9/11 made the death of Bin Laden possible.

As I am writing this, the President of the United States just announced that Navy SEALS had killed Osama bin Laden, the head of al Qaeda. It will take some time before we know the ramifications of this momentous event but permit me a few preliminary observations…

Last week, Standard & Poor?s announced that it might need to downgrade the US government?s AAA bond rating for the first time in history, because of the dim prospects for serious debt reduction. This panicked investors, in the short term, who believe that Treasuries are the last safe haven in an uncertain world.

The economist, Robert Samuelson, has an interesting take on Social Security: He calls it ?welfare.? Here is why: First, it taxes one group to support another group, meaning it is pay-as-you-go and not a contributory scheme where people?s own savings pay their later benefits. Second, Congress can constantly alter benefits, reflecting changing needs, economic conditions and politics. Let?s think about this provocative thesis.

The debate over the 2011 federal budget is presumably over. After taking the nation to the brink, even possibly facing a possible shutdown of the federal government, the congressional leaders cut the budget and finally passed the 2011 budget, which runs through 30 September. As I approach this Perspective on the 2012 federal budget, I find the words of the economist, Robert Samuelson, refreshing and brutally honest…

I am not a medical doctor nor do I understand all the complexities of health insurance, but I have spent time in a hospital as both a patient and as someone who visits hospitals to comfort friends and those whom I care about. I also believe that there are several common sense principles that we are not following as a nation.

The significant changes sweeping through the Middle East will have acute implications for Israel. At this point, it is impossible to deduce those implications in their entirety but there are a few hints.

The wave of populist uprisings throughout North Arica and into the Middle Eastern nations necessitates that we step back and do a reality check. What is going on? Is there a difference between what occurred in Egypt or Tunisia, for example, and what is occurring in Libya? What are the available options for these nations currently undergoing turmoil? Let?s examine these questions in this Perspective.

First, columnist Tom Friedman helps us understand that there are two different types of states in the Middle East: ?Real countries,? with long histories in their territory and strong national identities

At the end of December 2010, a huge natural gas discovery was confirmed in the Eastern Mediterranean inside Israel?s territorial waters. It is called the Leviathan gas deposit in the Levant Basin and marks a major development for Israel, with the potential for making Israel an energy exporter over the next decade. Natural gas was first discovered off Israel?s coast in 1999, but the quantity was so small that until recently, Israel was still planning on importing natural gas from Russia. The Leviathan field, discovered by a consortium led by Houston-based Noble Energy, is the world?s largest offshore gas find in the past decade and makes Israel now among the ranks of the world?s largest gas reserve holders in the world. [Possibly, the Leviathan field may contain a world-scale oil deposit as well.]