A total of 15 different U.S. food and nutrition programs (FANPs) serve about one in four Americans at a current annual cost of almost $100 billion. Can the government actually improve our personal eating habits? Are these billions of dollars well-spent?

Cutting the payroll tax cut, or even eventually eliminating it, might make more sense - if it happens on the Medicare, rather than Social Security side, of FICA.

Even the most prominent critiques of teacher preparation typically seem to presume that teacher recruitment--whether it incorporates clinical preparation or what not--ought to be geared toward new college graduates gearing up for the same old jobs. There are smarter, better ways to approach the challenge at hand.

While President Obama's decision to deny Taiwan a credible air force adds to Taipei's defense burdens, all may not be lost. Washington and Taipei are hinting at combined work on a new Taiwan defense policy.

As school boards and superintendents have been forced to seek new efficiencies and ways to do better with less, many school leaders have found themselves particularly perplexed by the unique challenges of special education. But districts can do better to equip school leaders to better meet student needs while helping policymakers provide targeted support for cost-effective practices.

Given what we have learned about China over the recent past, the answer to its aggressiveness is not more concessions--and certainly not the abandonment of a key partner in Asia's long peace.