The U.S. cannot expect to pull itself out of the current debt crisis without raising taxes. That's an unpopular sentiment, and thankfully I'm not running for office anytime soon.

As of last week, The New York Times instituted a pay-for-access program for their web-based services. The success or failure of journalism in the digital age rests upon the success or failure of this move by The Times. If the experiment succeeds, it could very well save the future of reliable, accurate and in-depth reporting – the sort of reporting that's vital to the smooth workings of democratic society.

Egypt, the United States' lone political ally in the Arab world, is currently in turmoil. Thousands of Egyptians have joined together to protest the decade-long rule of dictatorial president Hosni Mubarak.

Volcanic ash from last week's Eyjafjallajökull eruption continues to spread over the European continent, grounding flights and wrecking havoc on the European transportation network. At the time of writing, the Europe-wide grounding was continuing into its third day, with the major airlines losing some $200 million each day.