Americans are besieged by crises and upheavals these days.

From Don Imus to the acquittal of the Duke lacrosse players to the terrorist attacks at Virginia Tech, we’ve been bombarded and now our emotions and anger are on overdrive. Every week there's a new headline putting into perspective the emotional rollercoaster we faced just the week before. Are the times we live in today more prone to violence, mass murder, destruction, and injustice because of the Information Age?

One has to admit that the Imus affair and the tragedy at Virginia Tech, which has brought us all to tears and sorrow, have gotten incredible and justifiable coverage by the global media. However, there is one tragic situation over the last couple of weeks that has not garnered the deserved coverage despite our residence in this supposed Age of Information: the Duke rape case and prosecutor Mike Nifong. Read more...

As America comes to grips with the deadliest shooting in its history, this should be a time for grief, sorrow and reflection. This should not be a time for politics, but sadly, that seems to be where certain members of Congress and other advocacy groups seem to be headed.

According to today’s Opinion Journal’s Political Diary, Paul Helmke, former mayor of Fort Wayne, Ind., and current president of the Brady Campaign, immediately issued a statement calling for more gun control measures to be put on the books. While his sense of timing is a bit grotesque, Mr. Helmke should know that lawmakers can’t legislate sanity; a deranged individual who apparently obtained his firearms legally and senselessly killed his classmates can’t be stopped by more gun control laws. Read more...

If no one had a gun, no one would get shot. But if a few students had had guns at Virginia Tech on Monday, the man who killed 32 people there would probably have been stopped sooner. He would not have had the luxury of time to reload between bouts of execution-style murder of the innocent. What does the massacre suggest about the need for gun control? Scroll down and answer our Quick Poll! question: "Do the murders at Virginia Tech make the case for more or less gun control?"

Yesterday the ghost of Sen. John McCain's 2000 presidential campaign stopped by for a visit at the 2008 candidate's speech to the Memphis Economic Club. He sounded the theme of reform that brought McCain national prominence, as he criticized the Republicans who ran the Congress for spending too much and took a slap at the administration for failing  the victims of Hurricane Katrina. "My goodness, when disaster strikes, the government isn't even ready to deliver drinking water to dehydrated babies or rescue the aged and infirm trapped in a hospital wth no electricity," he said. Read more...

Whatever we do, let’s not panic over the mass murder at Virginia Tech.

Don’t let anybody suggest, for example, that such a heinous act has anything to do with how easy it is to get your hands on a gun in Virginia.

After all, we know that guns don’t kill people, people kill people. We also know that gun control only makes it harder for law-abiding citizens to get guns; it does nothing to keep them out of the hands of criminals. Read more...

Many of us are still reeling from Monday’s shooting at Virginia Tech, the deadliest in our history. Sadness, sorrow, anger and frustration are the many emotions that continue overwhelming me. In an era where we need answers instantly, oftentimes there are no explanations for the irrational behavior of people.

If you're angry at the world over a breakup with your girlfriend, why take your emotional loss out on innocent people who have no involvement with your trauma or loss? If your grief is beyond the point of repair, why not just kill yourself before involving college students, kids who are just trying to make the most of their educational experience and prepare themselves for life? Why would you in your selfish and pathetic way affect the lives of 33 families, who are now in utter shock and disbelief, overcome with sorrow at the loss of their loved ones? Read more...

Will someone tell me what in the heck the top three Republican presidential candidates are up to? They look like the Three Stooges.

Mitt Romney's issue positions have melted away faster that a popsicle on a hot summer sidewalk. He has done 180s on a woman's right to choose, gay rights, gun control and now his signature legislation in Massachusetts, healthcare. His latest issue-melt was to say he had really very little to do with the legislation. Please. This isn't just about flip-flopping — it's about whether he actually believes in anything at all. By the time this campaign is over, will he have any integrity left? Read more...

On the surface, it would seem that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are about evenly matched in fundraising — itself a big plus for the Illinois senator, who is neither married to a former president nor a fundraiser with  30 years of experience. Hillary shows $22.5 million, net of payables, available for the primary, and Obama has about $20 million. In this quarter, Obama raised only about $100,000 less than Hillary.

But the fact is that Obama has cleaned Hillary’s clock in the money competition. Swelling Clinton’s financial reports is the $10 million she transferred from her Senate committee to her presidential race. Without this $10 million, Obama would have twice as much as Hillary has in cash on hand for the primary! Read more...

OK. Just what you wanted. Someone else to weigh in on the Don Imus firestorm.

Let me take a little different tack. After doing several TV shows about the week’s events and watching the very powerful edition yesterday of “Meet the Press,” I have come to the conclusion that this may be a watershed event when it comes to racism and sexism in American life. Or at least that is my hope.

I am hopeful that “shock jocks” will go the way of the dinosaurs. But, more important, I am hopeful that the personal, nasty, mean-spirited, vituperative “free speech” will no longer by thought of as particularly free. It costs us, all of us.

Don Imus has had a schtick -- a very successful one -- for many years. It has involved a combination of thoughtful, interesting interviews and crazy behavior. Read more...