NEW YORK -- "Incentives matter."

An environmental coalition called Californians for Solar and Clean Energy has submitted more than 700,000 signatures for an initiative measure that would compel the state's utilities to use renewable sources for 40 percent of their electric power supplies by 2020 and 50 percent by 2025, a sharp increase in what the state's current policy requires.

John McCain knows a lot less about foreign policy than he'd have us believe. This, anyway, is the impression that's been growing in recent weeks, not least because of a much-discussed New York Times story published recently that painted a growing divide in his campaign between "pragmatists" and "neoconservatives." The candidate reportedly lacks firm ideological convictions, so a battle for "McCain's soul" may be in the offing.

"McCain may know what he believes about the world, but the world bears little resemblance to his beliefs."

-- J. Peter Scoblic, editor of The New Republic

From the Philadelphia Inquirer on Wednesday, April 23, 2008:

Hillary Clinton's campaign may be celebrating her win Tuesday in Pennsylvania's primary, but the victory only deepens the dilemma facing Democrats nationally.

From the Miami Herald, Monday, April 21, 2008:

News from our Department of Poetic Justice: On April 15 -- the tax filing deadline -- the House of Representatives voted to bar the Internal Revenue Service from using private debt collection agencies to gather unpaid taxes. The measure would shut down a money-wasting IRS program that hires private firms to find delinquent taxpayers and collect debts. Problem is, the program costs more than the money that is collected.

In an age of terrorism when strong, trusted leadership is essential, America's global image has plunged to depths that were unthinkable even a few years ago.

For nearly four years, members of the polygamist sect near Eldorado, Texas, lived in secrecy. Their seclusion created suspicions about what was going on at the YFZ Ranch, home to members of Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.