Gershom Gorenberg worries that the results of the Israeli elections may give Avigdor Lieberman far too much power:
The worst news, however, is that ultra-rightist Avigdor Lieberman and his Israel Is Our Home party have won 15 Knesset seats. Lieberman is a blustering, bellicose figure in the mold of the European radical right. His platform focuses on disenfranchising Israel's Arab citizens, whom he decries as a fifth column. Lieberman's ascendancy threatens to transform the external Israeli-Arab conflict into an internal ethnic struggle between the Jewish majority and Arab minority.
Given the current economic climate, Cristina Jiménez argues that it may now be more important than ever to reform immigration policy:
By complying with tax law, many immigrants have made it clear that they are willing to help build a new middle class through cooperation. Contra the myth of immigrants as economic parasites, tax dollars from undocumented immigrants are an integral part of our national economy, funding programs like unemployment benefits that support a large number of Americans in a time of economic crisis. This money is more indispensable than ever. The Internal Revenue Service estimates that undocumented immigrants contributed nearly $50 billion in federal taxes between 1996 and 2003. Ironically, it's easy for undocumented immigrants to document their earnings; a passport and proof of address are all they need for a tax-identification number.
And Mark Kleiman and Harold Pollack offer a few tips to the incoming drug czar:
Take public management seriously. No matter how good a program is in concept, it won't work if it isn't actually delivered. Your job should be more than a bully pulpit. Demand to see results. Build on what is working. Criticize what isn't. Be rigorous. Separate research from propaganda.
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--The Editors
