Selling contaminated baby formula is a heinous enough crime to shock a nation, but China's leaders know they have a dangerously destabilizing political crisis on their hands.

The scandal goes to the heart of a covenant between any authoritarian regime and those who surrender freedom. They cede power with the belief, however wishful, they will be better off. Those in power promise to protect them from all manner of hazards, foreign and domestic.

The unraveling of China's milk scandal has horrified the country. Last week, the chairwoman of a diary company pleaded guilty to producing and selling fake or substandard products. Milk products contaminated with an additive that produces kidney stones has killed six babies and sickened another 300,000.

If you're like me, you sometimes find yourself speechless when confronted with abject insanity.

If you're like me, for instance, you were dumbfounded when "Forrest Gump" beat out "Pulp Fiction" for best picture; when HBO's "Sopranos" received more accolades than "The Wire"; and when George W. Bush insisted Iraqi airplanes were about to drop WMD on American cities.

So if you're like me, you probably understand why I was momentarily tongue–tied recently after running face–first into conservatives' newest (and most ridiculous) talking point — the one designed to stop Congress from passing an economic–stimulus package.

During a Christmas Eve appearance on Fox News, I pointed out that most mainstream economists believe the government must boost the economy with deficit spending. That's when conservative pundit Monica Crowley said we should instead limit such spending because President Franklin Roosevelt's "massive government intervention actually prolonged the Great Depression." Fox News anchor Gregg Jarrett eagerly concurred, saying "historians pretty much agree on that."

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Western men who visit red–light districts in poor countries often find themselves surrounded by coquettish teenage girls laughingly tugging them toward the brothels. The men assume that the girls are there voluntarily, and in some cases they are right.

But anyone inclined to take the girls' smiles at face value should talk to Sina Vann, who was once one of those smiling girls.

Sina is Vietnamese but was kidnapped at the age of 13 and taken to Cambodia, where she was drugged. She said she woke up naked and bloody on a bed with a white man — she doesn't know his nationality — who had purchased her virginity.

After that, she was locked on the upper floors of a nice hotel and offered to Western men and wealthy Cambodians. She said she was beaten ferociously to force her to smile and act seductive.

Only Congress could set up a system that gives it a raise for doing nothing. We will pause while the gnashing of teeth subsides.

Yes, representatives and senators are guaranteed annual cost of living increases. Under this system, which allows them to not put their fingerprints on a bill giving themselves a raise, they get an increase unless they specifically vote to reject it. Needless to say, that doesn't happen often. The only time since 1999 that Congress turned down a raise was in 2007, when Democrats had just won the majority and blocked the increase until Congress raised the minimum wage.

We think it's a fine time for Congress to act again.

This year's 2.8 percent increase in base pay sounds modest enough, until you consider that it will boost salaries by $4,700 to a not–at–all–shabby $174,000 a year.

The word "depression" is popping up more often than at any time in the past 60 years, but what exactly does it mean? The popular rule of thumb for a recession is two consecutive quarters of falling GDP.

America's National Bureau of Economic Research has officially declared a recession based on a more rigorous analysis of a range of economic indicators. But there is no widely accepted definition of depression. So how severe does this current slump have to get before it warrants the "D" word?

A search on the Internet suggests two principal criteria for distinguishing a depression from a recession: a decline in real GDP that exceeds 10 percent, or one that lasts more than three years. America's Great Depression qualifies on both counts, with GDP falling by around 30 percent between 1929 and 1933. Output also fell by 13 percent during 1937 and 1938.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 5 percent to 20 percent of the U.S. population gets the flu each year. Of that, about 200,000 people require hospitalization and 36,000 ultimately die. But imagine if, in addition to colds and flus, American health providers were confronted with widespread outbreaks of malaria or other diseases that could spread due to global warming.

If this sounds like a scenario from a Hollywood thriller, think again.

According to a growing body of research, the threat of global warming bringing new diseases to America's shores is one that U.S. policy–makers need to take seriously. As the world warms, diseases are spreading farther, heat waves are lasting longer and air quality is declining. In 2005, the World Health Organization stated that the effects of climate change might have caused more than 150,000 deaths in the year 2000. A report released last month at a conference of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene warned that changing climates, combined with international air travel, could help spread malaria to areas in the United States and Europe that have historically remained untouched.