Conservation

WASHINGTON -- As news of the death of Margaret Thatcher came in Monday, tributes flowed from conservative leaders across the Capitol, showing the lasting influence the "Iron Lady" on the personal careers of many American lawmakers. “Lady Thatcher was a towering figure and a hero of mine,” said Sen. Pat Toomey, a Republican from Pennsylvania who once ran the conservative group Club for Growth. “Utterly fearless, she never once went wobbly,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, a first-term Republican from Texas and a tea party favorite.

LONDON -- Margaret Thatcher, the grocer's daughter who punched through an old-boy political network to become Britain's first female prime minister, stamping her personality indelibly on the nation and pursuing policies that reverberate decades later, has died. She was 87. The BBC read out a statement early Monday afternoon from Thatcher's friend and former advisor, Tim Bell, saying: "It is with great sadness that Mark and Carol Thatcher announce that their mother, Baroness Thatcher, died peacefully following a stroke this morning.

Almost four years ago, long before the 2012 presidential campaign heated up, CNN took a poll to learn who Republicans might choose as their party's next nominee. There were two clear front-runners: former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. The former governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, limped in third. By the time the campaign arrived, of course, Palin and Huckabee were pursuing careers as television pundits and after-dinner speakers, not presidential candidates.

I still don't think Google insulted Christians around the world when it chose to honor Cesar Chavez rather than focus on Jesus Christ's resurrection on Easter Sunday, which happened to be the 86th birthday of the late civil rights icon. And I still think it was a mistake for American conservatives, at the very moment the Republican Party is desperately trying to make inroads with Latino voters, to denigrate Google's home page  design by insulting Chavez. (Dana Perino, former spokeswoman for President George W. Bush, said she thought the homage to Chavez was a “hoax.”)

A consensus has been building about the need to reform and modernize our immigration system. While I am optimistic that Republicans, including "tea party" members, will support reform, it must be done right. We must create a system for the 21st century and beyond, one that honors the rule of law, provides a fair path for those seeking to come to the United States and fixes our broken borders. We must not fall prey to the mistakes made by earlier immigration reform efforts. An estimated 11 million or more undocumented people live in our country.

Fisker Automotive Inc., the beleaguered maker of high-end electric cars, is furloughing employees for a week to conserve cash. Callers to Fisker's Anaheim office were greeted Thursday with a voice message advising that the office was closed Friday, March 22, and would remain closed through Sunday, March 31. The furloughs, which affect more than 200 employees, came just two weeks after the company's founder resigned as executive chairman amid...

WASHINGTON -- Two of the Supreme Court's most conservative members suggested Wednesday that procedural barriers should prevent the justices from ruling on the constitutionality of the federal law that denies benefits to legally married same-sex couples, but a majority of the justices seemed inclined to push past those issues. Edith Windsor, an 83-year-old widow from New York, challenged the 1996 federal marriage act after her wife, Thea Clara Spyer, died in 2009. The two were legally married in 2007, and New York recognizes same-sex marriages.

Re "Fusion power on the right," Opinion, March 19 Jonah Goldberg is right that libertarians and Conservatives share very close views on economic issues, but it's the social issues that push libertarians and even some Republicans into the liberal camp. If you strongly support free speech, voluntary military service, marriage equality and repealing drug laws, you are far to the left of conservatism. If and when we have a strong libertarian candidate the Republicans can accept, it will be Democrats, not conservatives, jumping into the libertarian camp.

WASHINGTON - Certain law partners no longer call Theodore B. Olson for lunch. Old friends no longer come to dinner at his sprawling house in the woods near the Potomac. One of his best friends died in December, somewhat estranged. All since Olson - the conservative legal hero, crusader against Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton, defender of George W. Bush - signed on to fight for same-sex marriage in California, a battle that he will take to the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday when he challenges Proposition 8, the state measure that banned gay marriage.

JERUSALEM - By choosing to deliver his landmark speech to Israel in an auditorium filled with students and young people, President Obama is once again turning to a core audience that has always been responsive to his message of hope and change. But although there's little doubt that the handpicked attendees at the Jerusalem convention center Thursday will cheer what is likely to be his tough-love call for Israel to embrace Palestinian statehood, Obama's political magnetism may prove less effective with the broader masses of Israeli youth.