Many of the nations of central and east Europe have spent most of their history as components of one empire or another. People in this region are used to be at the receiving end of directives and planning from the center.

Growing up in Israel in the 1960's, we were always urged to conserve precious water. Rainfall was rare and meager, the sun scorching, our only sweet water lake under constant threat by the Syrians.

Hitler and Nazism are often portrayed as an apocalyptic and seismic break with European history. Yet the truth is that they were the culmination and reification of European history in the 19th century.

West Virginia, once a shoo-in Democratic state for many years, became a battleground state in 2004. There was a heavy competition for votes in this year's election, as many states found themselves in a swing with less than a week until election day. President Bush and Senator John Kerry needed extra presence in West Virginia due to a lackluster governor's race. Although it seemed the public was given more access to its candidates then ever before, reporters showed otherwise.

by Kurt St. AngeloLibertarian Writers' Bureauhttp://www.writersbureau.org My favorite childhood story was about a herd of hippos that played hide n' seek. The baby hippo's best hiding place was on a ledge just above - though in plain view of - the herd's elders, who never found the baby because they never