"If it were up to me, I would lift the embargo against Cuba the next day, and it would end your regime in three months,: José María Aznar, the former Spanish prime minister, reported saying in a 1998 meeting with Fidel Castro.

To the Editor:

Re “Catching Up on Family Values” (editorial, Feb. 26):

THE most pressing problems can sometimes be the dullest — until they force their way into our attention in an instant.

Along with an end to the botched Iraq war, and a sustainable economic rescue, the idea that Americans at some point in their lives must do a volunteer stint to improve the country is worth pursuing.

Like Michelle Obama there have been many, many times when Americans of all political persuasions haven't been proud of their country's actions.

Sen. Chris Dodd, back in his daily work routine of representing Connecticut, finds it as difficult a job as running for president, and certainly more rewarding.

He lifts a gavel in the massive room. Three men face him from a witness table, a trio of U.S. officials — the heads of the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of the Treasury — whose words move the financial markets of the world. And they wait for the man from Connecticut to lower his gavel and say something.

Sen. Chris Dodd is using the 15th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act this month as an opportunity to push for expanded leave benefits, including the establishment of paid leave for parents of newborns or newly adopted children and for people caring for seriously ill family members.

WASHINGTON - Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd met privately with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke today to reaffirm his commitment to easing the nation's mortgage crisis. "I'm impressed with the chairman. I think he's been doing the right thing on monetary policy," Dodd said after the meeting in his Capitol Hill office.

There are many aspects of the Bush administration's actions in the past eight years by which George Orwell would be impressed, but none perhaps so much so as the Protect America Act.

It's called the Protect America Act so that anyone who votes against it is voting against the Protect America Act, and don't think for one minute that's not why it's called that. Why else would you be so discourteous to your native tongue?

If President Bush's proposed defense budget passes, the date for an increase in submarine production will be moved up by a year and millions of dollars will flow to the Naval Submarine Base in Groton and Connecticut Army National Guard.

On Monday, the president sent his fiscal 2009 budget to Congress, making public what had only been rumor — that the Department of Defense was willing to step up submarine production in 2011 instead of 2012, as the Navy had originally planned.

WASHINGTON — President Bush sent Congress a $3.1 trillion spending proposal for the next fiscal year that would boost military spending and extend expiring tax cuts at the expense of social programs.

"Two key principles guided the development of my budget — keeping America safe and ensuring our continued prosperity," Bush said in his budget message to Congress. "As commander in chief, my highest priority is the security of the American people."