EN ROUTE TO THE UNITED STATES – Warning of a “slow erosion of the credibility of the international community,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice challenged the other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to take action against Iran if it does not reverse its nuclear program in …

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine: Concern Closer to Home? Muslims across the world are expressing outrage over those now-infamous Danish cartoons. And some American Muslims are raising concerns about one depiction of the prophet inside the Supreme Court. A sculpture of Muhammed is included among 18 stone …

I guess it doesn’t surprise me that some on the left are raising the race card on this immigration issue. So let me be clear: It’s not an immigration issue. It’s an “illegal” immigration issue. It’s not a matter of being anti-Hispanic, or anti-Peruvian, or anti-Italian. It’s about being anti-illegal-Hispanic, …

Attacking America’s enemies first. That’s the subject of this evening’s “Talking Points Memo.” The Bush administration has released a report that says the policy of preemptive action in the War on Terror will continue. As you know that policy led the USA into Iraq, which has become a more difficult …

Your Grrrs… Bill in East Texas writes: I enjoyed your column. As the operator of a small bakery/sandwich shop, I can identify with what you are saying. But here’s the real problem. Young people are growing up with no accountability. Their parents don’t hold them accountable and reward them anyway. …

The difference between the jihadists and their targets: us. That is the subject of this evening’s “Talking Points Memo.” The terrorists are not selfish, we are. That’s a huge factor in the terror war. Let me give you a few examples. Every free country knows that a democratic Iraq would …

Thailand has a long history of coups, and many people have felt that it was in the cards for quite some time. Right now, I am doing my regular rotation in Baghdad, and I had hoped a coup wouldn’t happen before I returned to Bangkok in October, just in time …

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine: Rice “Brush-off?” Bob Woodward‘s new book “State of Denial” describes CIA officials worried that they did not get through to then-National Security Adviser Rice with an urgent warning about a possible Al Qaeda attack during a meeting two months before 9/11— saying …

Are you scared about retirement? Then I’d like to tell you about my friend Joe. A few years ago, he was scared about retirement too. He wasn’t saving enough. But if Joe wasn’t saving a lot, there was one other thing Joe wasn’t doing either: spending a lot. I’m not …

I don’t know what Grrr’d me more … hearing that Reese Witherspoon got married to Ryan Phillippe seven years ago, or the more recent news of their separation. You see, like thousands of other ordinary, less-than-perfect men in the world, I was flabbergasted as to why Witherspoon would pick Phillipe, …