When Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld stated we, as a nation, were suffering from some form of "moral confusion", he was partially right. America is confused, but not morally in the sense that the dubious Secretary of Defense was crowing about. America is confused about is purpose, its civil duty, its foundation and what living in a democracy is all about.

NORTH Korea's decision to test a nuclear device is precisely what the world does not need at present. It was unnecessary because the US and its allies already suspected that Pyongyang was nuclear-capable and have held back from invasion.

US strategy, which for decades was oriented around the Soviet and communist “enemy”, is now centred around the “war on terrorism”, weapons of mass destruction and “rogue states”.

The World Peace Council is drawing the attention of the peace loving people of the world, about the internationally well-known legal and humanitarian scandal of the imprisonment of the five Cuban patriots in the USA, which have been sentenced heavily for espionage and conspiracy, while tried in Miami some eight years ago.

It is becoming increasingly clear that the Bush administration is planning another unprovoked war, this time against Iran--a country nearly three times the size of Iraq, with a long history, a strong sense of national identity and nationalism, and a well-equipped and well-trained army.

The last sentence in Woodward’s new book is, "With all Bush’s upbeat talk and optimism, he had not told the American public the truth about what Iraq had become."

Almost four decades later, the image can still make hairs rise on unsuspecting necks. It's 1968, and 200 meter gold medalist Tommie Smith stands next to bronze winner John Carlos, their raised black gloved fists smashing the sky on the medal stand in Mexico City.

The world’s slum population is expected to double to two billion souls within a generation -- a festering sore that traces back to the British Empire as well as to the post-World War II policies of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, according to the just published “Planet of Slums”(Verso) by Mike Davis.

While many in Washington were still choking on the sulfurous fog seeping down from New York, the White House’s extraordinarily inappropriate report condemning Venezuela for failing “demonstrably” to meet international counter-narcotics agreements quietly slipped past the attention of the media, as well as the general public.

Venezuela once again demanded the extradition of the terrorist, Luis Posada Carriles, last Friday. The call was made by Venezuelan foreign minister, Nicolás Maduro on the thirtieth anniversary of the bombing of Cubana airline flight 455, which cost the lives of 73 passengers.

The scandal of former US Representative Mark Foley hitting on teenage boys pales in comparison to the Pentagon’s serial penetration of our high schools and the Armed Forces’ barely-legal attempted seduction of every 16 to 18-year-old male and female, Congressional page or not.

Democrats don't be fooled. Foley's escapades won't keep conservatives away from the polls.

THEY say that there is no such thing as a surefire success in Hollywood. However, if you have got Scorsese as your director, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson as your lead stars and a script based on a previously successful film, then you are a long way down the track to a box office success.

With "The Genius of Impeachment: The Founders' Cure for Royalism," John Nichols has produced a masterpiece that should be required reading in every high school and college in the United States.