Opinion - Washington Post

NORMAN HSU may turn out to be the best thing that's happened to campaign finance reform in years. The Hsu episode illuminates how the current system produces bad results and why changes need to be made. [visit website]

NOT ONLY should D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) abolish taxi zone fares, he should also get rid of the D.C. Taxicab Commission. The agency's worthlessness was proved by its complete mishandling of a decision about what pricing system city ... [visit website]

THOUGH ABRUPT, the resignation of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was not surprising. Though he did improve relations with South Korea and China initially, Mr. Abe more recently inflamed feelings by denying that Japan had coerced Asian women into sexual ... [visit website]

RYAN C. CROCKER, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, deserves credit for frankly and soberly delivering a message this week that neither his audience in Congress nor his superiors in the Bush administration wanted to hear: that a political solution in ... [visit website]

IT'S ALWAYS difficult to find the right balance between a citizen's right to be free from undue government intrusion and a government's duty to protect national security. U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero of the Southern District of New York, in ... [visit website]

NO ONE CHEERED the announcement that eight Catholic schools in the District might be converted to secular charter schools. Not archdiocesan officials saddened by the prospective loss of schools offering a Catholic education; not principals and teachers who are worried ... [visit website]

MANY FACTORS contributed to the awful success that al-Qaeda achieved six years ago today: tactical and policy mistakes by the United States, the diabolical skill of the terrorists, even the clear, cobalt-blue sky on that initially beautiful morning. But probably ... [visit website]

FROM THE MOMENT Haleh Esfandiari was arrested and imprisoned by the government of Iran in May, her friends in high places in Washington rallied to her defense and demanded that she be released. Most notable among them was former representative ... [visit website]

GEN. DAVID H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker testified yesterday that the surge of U.S. forces in Iraq has led to military and political progress and that ultimate success in the mission is possible. But the real bottom line ... [visit website]

AIR TRAVELERS can be forgiven for not cheering the news from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics that flight delays and cancellations were a smidge better for July (30.2 percent) than June (31.9 percent). What they've endured this summer is the ... [visit website]

THE PRESIDENTIAL Advance Manual, the instruction book for White House events staff, was recently subpoenaed in a West Virginia lawsuit, a case brought by two people arrested at a presidential address for wearing T-shirts with anti-Bush slogans. The lawsuit was ... [visit website]

THE DEBATE on No Child Left Behind begins in earnest this week, and the outcome will be determined by one fundamental question: Does this country want to make schools better -- or just make schools look better? If Congress is ... [visit website]

JITTERY VIRGINIA Republicans, whose grip on state politics has been weakening steadily for several years, are facing further setbacks in this fall's elections for the General Assembly, possibly including the end of GOP control of the Senate for the first ... [visit website]

CONGRESS IS back, and its agenda is crammed with contentious issues that demand lawmakers' attention. Iraq and the appropriations bills that keep the government running are just two of them. But at some point the House and Senate will have ... [visit website]

MULTIPLE reports on the "surge" of U.S. forces in Iraq -- including that due tomorrow from Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker -- ought to compel both the Bush administration and congressional Democrats to rethink their strategies. ... [visit website]

ONE OF THE New Deal's enduring innovations is the Federal Housing Administration, the mortgage-guarantee agency established in 1934. The FHA has insured more than 34 million home loans over the past 73 years. FHA-insured loans are, in turn, packaged and ... [visit website]

THE GOAL OF the Bush administration after Sept. 11, 2001, was simple and clear: Protect the country from another devastating attack. But in its quest to counter unprecedented threats, the White House deliberately avoided seeking the advice of Congress -- ... [visit website]

MEMBERS of the D.C. Council who are squeamish about making it easier to fire school employees should think about why they shifted control of the schools to the mayor. Tinkering around the edges won't turn around the dysfunctional system. Dramatic ... [visit website]

FORMER Tennessee senator Fred Thompson enters the 2008 presidential race at a time when the state of the campaign is unsettled and many Republican voters appear less than fully satisfied with their choices. Mr. Thompson has been testing the presidential ... [visit website]

THE HERNDON Town Council, having inherited an orderly situation regarding the management of day laborers, has opted to replace it with disorder. Now, there's a novel approach to municipal governance. [visit website]