Virtually everyone who is anyone in American politics and media has roundly condemned any thought that Iran's President Ahmadinejad should be allowed to desecrate Ground Zero with his noisome presence. They are making a mistake.

The Romans understood nation building, an art we and the British have forgotten.

"It is the duty of every officer of His Majesty's Navy, to discharge powder and shot in the general direction of the enemy."

Brazil serves as an object lesson in how government incompetence - not greed, not really bribery even, certainly not totalitarianism, just simple incompetence - can make life difficult on an otherwise free and vibrant economy.