It is true that the rate of economic growth has quickened, but that rate is still low by pre-recession standards. In July the IMF actually cut the U.S. growth forecast for 2014 to just 1.7 percent, the CBO's in August was just 1.5 percent. These are not stellar growth numbers.

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After years of government lies -- from claims of WMDs in Iraq to zero civilian casualties in drone strikes -- you'd think the members of the fourth estate would have learned a lesson. But the mainstream U.S. media plays the role of government lapdog more than watchdog.

Much will be said about bringing roads, electricity and infrastructure to underdeveloped regions. But how committed is the World Bank to the planet as a whole when it is doling out its loans?

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People in Poland are eating apples these days. Lots of apples. Here in Warsaw, they're pressed into your hands at a street festival, or baked into piles of pies and cakes. You see them everywhere. It's an act of defiance.

Vote your interests in November. Continue to be partisan to your heart's delight. Just don't call yourself a patriot if you search to find reasons to disregard objective facts, data and documented history in an attempt to justify rooting against a sitting president.

It's time for New York women to be protected from a single sweeping decision by the Supreme Court, or legislation by Congressional Republicans that chips away at women's rights.

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A month before the November 4 mid-term elections, the competition for control of the Senate is neck-and-neck. The improving U.S. economy hasn't increased Democratic prospects. What explains this?

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I wonder what Jefferson would think of our Congress today, or of the voters who tolerate it. I wonder what it would feel like to be proud of our government again.

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I have made this point often before and hereby make it again -- you cannot conquer a serious enemy from the air. You have to have the one thing President Obama has vowed time and again that we will not have -- boots on the ground.

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Knowing the truth, paying respect to victims, responding to the expectations and just claims of survivors are part of the civic dialogue that can strengthen democracies like Spain's and make them more legitimate, more enduring, and more stable.

The unifying social experience for young black men in Washington, D.C. is not attending college, serving in the military or receiving government assistance -- it is being punished by the criminal justice system.

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Utah State Rep. Kraig Powell (R-Heber City) is proposing innovative legislation in his state: "I have come up with a word we probably can use and see if the courts will accept. ... [T]he same-sex legal relationship between partners is called pairage. The legal relationship between opposite sex partners is called marriage." Mr. Powell is really onto something here.

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It was heinous. It was underhanded. It was beyond the bounds of international morality. It was an attack on the American way of life. It was "the oil weapon" -- and back in 1973, it was directed at the United States. Skip ahead four decades and it's smart, it's effective, and it's the American way.

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When we hear that a mother is on maternity leave, most of us smile and realize it's a special time in that family's life. But often banks hear something else -- they hear something has led lenders to deny the home mortgage loans for expecting families.

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This may well be Obama's last chance to change the widespread perception of being weak and indecisive, and restore America's image as the indispensable global leader because only the US can lead the battle against ISIS to a successful conclusion.

The Umbrella Revolution isn't over nor is it resolved, but rather only just beginning and gathering strength for the next opportunity. Beijing has no reason to celebrate a problem resolved, even as it refuses to choose a path toward democracy and rights.

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Progressives who are elected to executive office have a unique opportunity to highlight neglected issues and stimulate much-needed debate, by taking actions which challenge the "conventional wisdom." The mayor of New York City is uniquely positioned to play this role, thanks to that city's prominence.