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The U.S. Coast Guard says it has seized more than 12,800 pounds (6 tons) of cocaine and apprehended four suspected drug smugglers from a self-propelled semisubmersible it busted off the coast of Panama earlier this month.

WASHINGTON, June 13, 2008 – Tomorrow the United States observes National Flag Day, an annual tribute to the American flag, the ideals it stands for and the sacrifices made to preserve them. President and Nancy Reagan file by the flag-draped caskets of victims of the April 18, 1983, bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon in an April 23, 1983 file photo. Photo courtesy Ronald Reagan Presidential Library  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. President Woodrow Wilson recognized during his first Flag Day address in 1915 that the freedoms the U.S. flag stands for weren’t and never would...

The Committee of 100 survey that I have mentioned here in the past asked the question of the American general public and American opinion leaders - Should the US take a more active role in Cross Strait relations? Interestingly enough, the American general public and the American Opinion Leaders were about equal, with 44% saying the US should be more active. Just over half (52%) of the opinion leaders said, "no!", and just under half (47%) of the general public said, "no!" The majority opinion is for the US to mind its own business. One in ten persons in the...

The Committee of 100 survey that I have mentioned here in the past asked the question of American opinion leaders - What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear "China?" 4. Human/religious/civil rights - 16% (This is the percentage of the US population that are treehuggers and activists.) 3. Communism - 16% (They think this means everyone eating off of the same table and sharing the car.) 2. Population - 40% (Finally someone realizes that China has something the rest of the world doesn't - the largest population in the world) and.... 1. Economic growth -...

I have mentioned the Committee of 100 survey many times in this blog and will mention it again. It has presented numerous insights into American attitudes toward China and the views on China and US-China Relations. Here are some facts about the poll. Opinion leaders - 203 in-depth interviews were conducted nationwide of Americans from diverse fields in leadership positions that influence public opinion and have some US-China relation familiarity - margin of error abt. 7% General Public - 1202 adults at random nationwide - margin of error abt. 3% Congressional Staff - 101 in-depth interviews of US Congressional Staff...

This isn't just any fall season in America. Our nation is at war. Instead of raking leaves in their backyards, munching freshly picked apples, and shopping for holiday turkeys, tens of thousands of our neighbors and friends and fellow citizens are currently at risk on foreign soil. They get up every day, pull on body armor and helmets, and set off on dangerous missions whose success or failure could ultimately affect the lives of millions of people. Some of these Americans will die. And they are doing this on my behalf and yours. I'm intentionally writing about what America should...

JIM LEHRER: President Bush speaking from the White House. Some perspective now on what the president just said from four historians. From Boston University: Robert Dallek who has written extensively on the American presidency and the history of American foreign policy; and Professor Emeritus Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States and The Politics of History, among others. Walter Russell Mead, a senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations; and Diane Kunz, a diplomatic historian, formally at Yale University. She's the author of Butter and Guns: America's Cold War, Economic Diplomacy....