Op-Ed (opinion editorial)

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    L.A. Times - Opinion Blog

  • Thank thee, bishops

    Michael McGough
    20 Nov 2009 | 1:23 pm
    America's Roman Catholic bishops aren't completely obsessed by abortion and gay marriage. My former colleague Ann Rodgers, one of the best religion reporters around, reports in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that bishops have been battling over whether to approve a retro English translation of the Mass with more traditional (and, critics charge, more stilted) language. The new/old language won out at the recent bishops' conference. So now when the priest says "The Lord be with you," the congregation will reply "And with your spirit," not "and also with…

  • A little bit more choice in a reformed healthcare system

    Jon Healey
    20 Nov 2009 | 12:49 pm
    Good news today from the backstage maneuverings on the Senate Democrats' healthcare reform bill. As The New Republic reported, Democratic leaders have agreed to give more flexibility to millions of Americans who get their health insurance today through their workplace. First, a little background. My favorite healthcare reform proposal was the Healthy Americans Act by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Robert Bennett (R-Utah). In addition to being a genuinely bipartisan approach to the issue, it was smart about bringing market forces to bear on the industry. But it also was the most radical…

  • They took all the newsmen and put them in the Newseum

    Michael McGough
    19 Nov 2009 | 5:15 pm
    I met Tim Russert only once, before a "Meet the Press" debate between two Senate candidates from my home state of Pennsylvania. Russert was engaging, impressively au courant with Keystone State politics and, well, a nice guy. I also admired his work, and I was sad when he died before his time. (You never hear about someone dying at his time.) Still, I cringed at the excessiveness of his obsequies. Journalism has a long, and appealingly human, tradition of providing a little nicer send-off to colleagues than someone in another business might receive. That's why…

  • Paying for healthcare reform with a 'botax'

    Jon Healey
    19 Nov 2009 | 5:07 pm
    We've seen taxes on death, luxury and sin, and now the Senate is poised to impose one on vanity. To help cover the cost of health insurance subsidies for the working class, the bill cobbled together by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) would create a 5% excise tax on elective cosmetic surgery. "Elective" is the important word here; the new levy wouldn't apply to reconstructive surgery for people who'd been disfigured. The idea, which some Senate Democrats have been kicking around for months, has already been tried out in New Jersey, where it reportedly brought…

  • Is a $26,000 UC education still a deal?

    Paul Thornton
    18 Nov 2009 | 5:51 pm
    That's $26,000 for a single year at a University of California campus, not the four usually needed to graduate. The UC Board of Regents voted today to increase basic education fees for undergraduates by 32% to more than $10,000 for the 20010-11 academic year. Throw in the roughly $16,000 per year required for room, board and books, and the UC system fees approach $30,000 per year -- and feel a lot like the cost of an Ivy League education with few of the perks. (None of this is to say, mind you, that the regents won't be forced to raise fees again in 2010, with the state facing a…
 
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    USATODAY.com - Opinion

  • Debate on prosecuting terror suspects - Our view: Unsettling choice for 9/11 trial has one big plus

    19 Nov 2009 | 9:22 pm
    Our view on prosecuting terror suspects: Unsettling choice for 9/11 trial has one big plus Defendants are getting more than they deserve, but it won’t likely help them. For eight years now, the government has struggled unsuccessfully for a perfect...

  • Opposing view: Ditch tribunals entirely

    19 Nov 2009 | 9:21 pm
    Opposing view: Ditch tribunals entirely Try all terror suspects in federal court, not military commissions.By Anthony D. Romero On Sept. 11, 2001, this nation underwent an immeasurable horror. Since then, Americans have been waiting for justice. Now, finally, after eight...

  • Et cetera

    19 Nov 2009 | 9:20 pm
    Et cetera Smart insights on the news of the day Jon Meacham, column, Newsweek: "We are at our best as a country when there is something approaching a moderate space in politics. The middle way is not always the right...

  • Column: Sarah Palin doesn't fit the 'Rogue' title

    19 Nov 2009 | 9:17 pm
    Sarah Palin doesn't fit the 'Rogue' title Plain Talk By Al Neuharth, USA TODAY Founder It's a readable and sometimes laughable book and will be a big best-seller. But Sarah Palin's Going Rogue has a misleading title Palin is a...

  • Column: Breast cancer debate must strike a balance

    19 Nov 2009 | 9:16 pm
    Breast cancer debate must strike a balance Commentary By Katherine Chretien My parents are complete opposites. My father is deeply rational, a chemist by trade and a man of science. My mother is more emotional, artistic and swayed by the...
 
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    washingtonpost.com - Editorials

  • President Who?

    Post
    21 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm
    WHO DO I call if I want to call Europe, Henry Kissinger once famously asked. For eight years European federalists labored to produce an answer to that question -- staging a constitutional convention, ignoring repeated rebuffs by voters and bullying skeptical small countries. At a summit on Thursday they delivered a mouse: a new president and foreign policy chief for the European Union whose obscure backgrounds and lack of experience virtually guarantee that they will not supplant national leaders as figures on the world stage or as interlocutors with Washington. That's probably just as well.

  • The jobs jam

    Post
    21 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm
    ONE OUT OF 10 American workers will not have a job for which to express gratitude this Thanksgiving. If you add what the Bureau of Labor Statistics calls "marginally attached workers" and those who want to work full time but can find only part-time jobs, then the true employment picture looks even bleaker: 17.5 percent of the labor force is now either unemployed or underemployed. This is a disastrous situation, and you would expect voters to pressure the White House and Congress to address it. You would also expect the federal government to respond.

  • Save the vouchers

    Post
    21 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm
    OPTIMISM THAT the District's federally funded school voucher program will be allowed to flourish is fading. Leading Democrats say that they are open to letting new students enter the program, but efforts to make that a reality seem to have stalled. Indeed, it appears that some Democrats' idea of saving the program is simply to let it slowly wither away.

  • U.S. could help disrupt China's Internet censorship

    Post
    20 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm
    THE MOST interesting question President Obama fielded in China came over the Internet, via the U.S. Embassy, from a Chinese citizen who asked, "Do you know of the firewall? Should we be able to use Twitter freely?" In response, Mr. Obama, speaking at a town hall in Shanghai, did not directly address China's massive Internet censorship operation -- "the firewall" -- and he confessed that he does not use Twitter. But he said, "I'm a big supporter of not restricting Internet use, Internet access, other information technologies like Twitter."

  • Congress has a role in investigating Fort Hood attack

    Post
    20 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm
    LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS are almost always right to try to shield a criminal investigation from outside interference. Public pretrial statements by witnesses, for example, could be used by others to shape their testimony; evidence could be corrupted if not handled properly. And those directly involved could escape accountability if they are given immunity to testify before Congress.
 
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    Boston Globe -- Editorial/Op-ed pages

  • Where conservatives have it wrong

    Jeff Jacoby, Globe Columnist
    21 Nov 2009 | 4:36 pm
    Illegal immigration is a problem. But it can only be solved by overhauling our dysfunctional immigration laws, not by demonizing or scapegoating illegal immigrants. Those immigrants didn't come here in order to be lawbreakers; they broke a law in order to come here.

  • Tax cuts and fiscal discipline

    Scott Brown
    21 Nov 2009 | 4:36 pm
    The Senate race comes down to this: all my Democratic opponents will vote to raise taxes even higher, and I will not. Higher taxes will further weaken our economy and put even more people out of work.

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    21 Nov 2009 | 4:36 pm

  • Sexism knows no political bounds

    Joan Vennochi, Globe Columnist
    21 Nov 2009 | 4:36 pm
    The conventional answer is that liberals hate her conservative, pro-life politics; have contempt for certain elements of her family history; and either don't like her Wal-Mart lifestyle, or believe she's faking it. But even that doesn't totally explain the meanness directed Palin's way.

  • A ‘progressive’ path to reform

    Jack E. Robinson
    21 Nov 2009 | 4:36 pm
    I support full and immediate equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual citizens. I want to create jobs by eliminating the capital gains tax on all investments made in 2010. I want to audit the Federal Reserve to find out where almost $10 trillion of our tax dollars went.
 
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    SFGate: Chronicle Op-Ed

  • The right time for immigration reform

    22 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am
    The midterm congressional elections, a disappointed electorate and, most likely, more economic pain are all waiting for the country in 2010. And the Obama administration wants to tackle immigration reform? We'll see. For now, Homeland Security Secretary Janet...

  • Letters to the editor

    22 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am
    I recently returned to Canada after spending a week in your beautiful city. My only complaint is your huge homeless population. I don't pretend to fully understand the complexities involved. However, it would appear the situation is getting progressively...

  • Presented By:

    22 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  • Calculating cost of sending troops to war

    22 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am
    1 What's the estimated cost of sending one soldier to Afghanistan for one year? A: $390,000 B: $500,000 C: $730,000 D: $1 million 2 Where does the White House want to ship Guantanamo Bay terrorist suspects? A: Orbiting space satellite B: Bucharest, Romania C:...

  • Deadly crime, sex tape case draw attention

    22 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am
    These SFGate.com articles and photo collections received the most page views in the week ended Friday morning at 11: Articles 1. Richmond mom who murdered son is found insane 2. Police: Officers kill 16-year-old after carjack 3. Morford: Sex tape tips from...
 
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    Opinion

  • Mayor quietly moves on Southbank, Jaguars

    Times-Union
    21 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm
    If you're frustrated by the lack of forward progress in Jacksonville, here's an analogy that might perk you up. I've heard the Mayor's Office described as being like a duck. Watch a duck on the surface of a pond and there doesn't appear to be much happening. But underneath the surface, there's a lot of paddling going on. What paddling is happening at the Mayor's Office? As I wrote in a column recently, improvements for the downtown riverfront are close to finally getting beyond the talking stage.read more

  • Preservation Project: Happy anniversary

    Times-Union
    21 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm
    One of the wisest, most forward-thinking city programs in city history marked its 10th birthday recently. The city's Preservation Project land buying program originated during Mayor John Delaney's administration in 1999 with a goal of buying 10 to 20 square miles of land for public parks and preservation. But the total mushroomed to 81 square miles. That makes Jacksonville home to the largest urban park system in the nation in both total acreage and parks per capita. Pushing forwardread more

  • I strongly oppose giving any mayor one bit of additional power

    Times-Union
    21 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm
    APPOINTED SHERIFF An opposing view I strongly oppose giving any mayor one bit of additional power. Things are already out of control as it is. Abuse of position prevails. Just look at all the assistants the mayor appointed and how the taxpayers are footing the bill. This is not the way to solve the problems of Jacksonville. We don't need to set up a dynasty or the "good ole boy" system ever, ever again! ROBERTA THOMASread more

  • Mammograms: New guidelines a giant mistake

    Times-Union
    21 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm
    A little-known task force has sent waves of outrage throughout the female community. In the 21 years since I founded Bosom Buddies, I have never heard such an outcry as I have heard against the proposed new recommendations on mammography and the supposed ineffectiveness of breast self-examination. What is this special task force offering in its place for early detection? Nothing! What is the cost of doing breast self-examination? Nothing! What's the benefit? The saving of women's lives!read more

  • Strange News: Surprise, surprise: Florida No. 1

    Times-Union
    21 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm
    Florida makes some of the strangest lists. Literally. In this case, the Sunshine State is the "runaway winner" as the strangest news state based on a review of 2,000 Associated Press "strange stories" over the last year. Tableseed.com, a service that aids restaurants through e-mail clubs, did the analysis. The Web site said at least 169 strange stories from Florida showed up on AP's wires in the past year. Among the more intriguing: - "Man wearing sleeping bag as cape attempts robbery" - from Gainesville.read more
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    baltimoresun.com - Commentary

  • Strangers – or neighbors

    21 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm
    Can Baltimoreans still interact with people they don't know? M y wife and I and our dog attended my aunt's funeral recently. We drove from our home in Washington early Sunday morning to the funeral home and then joined family and friends at the cemetery. My wife and I were both born in Baltimore (delivered by the same obstetrician), but she left when she was 1.

  • Another idea to save the a-rabs: Broaden their appeal

    21 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm
    A s stated here previously, I support a new deal for the a-rabs of Baltimore, so that this tradition of horse- and pony-drawn street vendors continues as part of the urban food-delivery system and as a tourist delight. Others think it's a failed business model with too many problems. I asked Jim Kucher, executive director of entrepreneurship programs at the University of Baltimore, for his thoughts. (The University of Baltimore chapter of Students in Free Enterprise has elected to take on this project.)

  • Sarah Palin doesn't speak for me

    19 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm
    An evangelical soccer mom parts ways with the GOP star An evangelical Christian parts ways with the GOP star

  • Pelosi and Reid's health-care monsters

    19 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm
    J ust before Halloween, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled her latest Obamacare proposal: H.R. 3962, a 2,000-page legislative monster. On Nov. 7, the bill narrowly passed in the House by a vote of 220 to 215. If enacted into law, Ms. Pelosi's creation would do the following:

  • Opportunities abound in Indian prime minister's visit to U.S.

    19 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm
    N ext week, India's prime minister will be the first international leader to make an official state visit to the United States since President Barack Obama's inauguration. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit affirms that, while Washington is preoccupied with other countries - Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran and North Korea - the strategic partnership with India furthers several U.S. foreign policy objectives.
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    MiamiHerald.com: Opinion

  • Wasteful washes

    21 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm
    Re the Nov. 17 editorial Stop the waste: What about another wasteful use of water in our community -- fundraising car washes? While I realize that nonprofit organizations can legally do this, these car washes are as much of a waste of water as too frequent lawn watering.

  • Woman of substance?

    21 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm
    I'm sure I would like Sarah Palin if I got the chance to meet her. We share many things in common. She is still married to her first spouse, as am I. She has a Down syndrome son. I have a brother with Down syndrome. We share the same faith and we both like the outdoors. She is conservative on economic and social issues, and so am I.

  • Enough stalling: Toughen ethics rules

    21 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm
    As corruption scandals mount involving city commissioners, county officials and school board members in Broward and Miami-Dade, loopholes in state and local ethics laws have finally come into focus for public officials in denial.

  • One-liners

    21 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm
    I'd appreciate being told, once more, why, as an American citizen, I can travel freely to Communist China but am unable to travel to Communist Cuba without special license from my own government.

  • No-show jobs hard to find, good to get

    21 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm
    Angel Gonzalez quit the Miami City Commission and pleaded guilty to a corruption charge, all because he did something extra nice for his daughter.
 
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    post-gazette.com - Opinion

  • Asides

    21 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm
    DAWN CREEPS over the mountains one sunbeam at a time. And sanity comes to the selling of beer more conveniently in the Pittsburgh area one Giant Eagle at a time.

  • Fat and fact: No pride attaches to being overweight or obese

    21 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm
    Heavy-set Americans are starting to throw their weight around in the health-care reform debate. If that sounds ridiculous, it's because it is.

  • Letters to the editor

    21 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm
    For the past 30 years, I have had the pleasure of taking colleagues from an array of German universities to the shores of the Ohio to visit the last of the three homes of the Harmony Society in Old Economy Village.

  • Issue One: Mammography

    21 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm
    Where's the outrage? Some pseudo-government organization is dictating to all women how and when they should/can proactively screen for breast cancer.

  • Jobs at risk: A phony wage floor could cost Pittsburgh

    20 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm
    It was a bad idea in 1997, and it's a bad idea now.
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    The Orange County Register - News Headlines : News

  • Book review: Sarah Palin's memoir: more lipstick, less pit bull

    By MARK KENNEDY
    22 Nov 2009 | 4:45 pm
    There should be a feeling of palpable glee running through Sarah Palin's memoir: Now, finally, she gets to talk, unfiltered and unedited. This is, after all, a politician convinced that the media twists her words, who says she's been parodied and...

  • Alan Bock: Freedom's fearless founder

    By ALAN BOCK
    22 Nov 2009 | 4:35 pm
    There's a certain danger in these annual tributes to the founder of the company that owns this and more than two dozen other newspapers that we are creating something of an idol long after his death. He would have found this distasteful, I suspect....

  • Editorial: Is that you, Jerry Brown?

    22 Nov 2009 | 4:30 pm
    Although he hasn't formally announced his candidacy, state Attorney General Jerry Brown, known to many as Moonbeam when he was governor, probably will be a front-runner for California chief executive in next year's election. As he positions himself...

  • Steven Greenhut: Derailing public pension gravy train

    By STEVEN GREENHUT
    22 Nov 2009 | 4:19 pm
    Defenders of government employees' current retirement system depict critics as haters of government workers who want public "servants" to spend their retirement years eating cat food and living in dire poverty. That's the response I always get when I...

  • $1 million slash stops Craftsman auction

    By MARILYN KALFUS
    22 Nov 2009 | 2:00 pm
    Other homes on the market also appear to be on track to avoid foreclosure.
 
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    OrlandoSentinel.com - Opinion

  • Getting bamboozled on growth concerns

    21 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm
    Anyone who thinks that Florida is getting better when it comes to addressing growth problems might want to think again. On two fronts, things are now looking worse.

  • 11/22: Letters to the Editor

    21 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  • A platform for jihad - the absurdity of it all

    21 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm
    And now its self-proclaimed architect, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, has been given by the Obama administration a civilian trial in New York. Just as the memory fades, 9-11 has been granted a second life — and KSM, a second act: "9-11, The Director's Cut," narration by KSM.

  • My Word: Simple fix for simple problem

    21 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm
    With the economic and transit future of Florida at stake, state elected officials from Gov. Charlie Crist on down are wheeling and dealing instead of addressing a simple problem in a straightforward manner.

  • A capitol message

    21 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm
    The gist: Legislators can save lives by prohibiting texting while driving. Gov. Charlie Crist added his voice last week to the growing chorus calling for a ban on the tremendously risky and often lethal practice of texting while driving.
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    SacBee -- Editorials

  • Editorial: Assembly must get moving on 'Race to the Top'

    22 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am
    President Barack Obama said in a speech three weeks ago that the status quo in American schools "has held back our children, it has held back our economy, and it has held back our country long enough." It is time, he said "to stop just talking about education reform and start actually doing it." The states are the great laboratories of experimentation, but the federal government can help. Obama announced in July that states could compete for $4 billion in new "Race to the Top" funds to get things moving. The first round of applications is due Jan. 19. California could gain up to $500 million,…

  • Editiorial: Living on the edge, in need of a hand

    22 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am
    Art Cajigas at Broderick Christian Center in West SacramentoVolunteers hand out food baskets at the Broderick Christian Center on Sixth Street in West Sacramento every Wednesday. This past week, the boxes contained bread, peanut butter, canned corn, spinach, meat, spaghetti, and mac and cheese – enough in each box for nine meals for each family member. Some 75 to 80 families used to show up regularly for the boxes. But since the recession hit, more than 100 families converge. Scores more, mostly homeless single men and women, line up for the weekday breakfast and lunch programs the…

  • Editorial: Promises of drug industry fall flat

    21 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am
    Is the support of the pharmaceutical industry needed for Congress to pass health care reform? Or is the price of that support too high for the people the reform package is trying to help? Those questions took on new urgency this week with the release of a study by AARP, the seniors advocacy group, that found that drug makers had raised the wholesale price of brand-name prescription drugs by 9 percent, or $10 billion, in the past year. One analyst who was quoted in the report, which ran on The Bee’s front page, said the price increase was the biggest in 17 years. What particularly…

  • Editorial: Feckner takes a pop at the $100,000 club

    21 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am
    When he visited The Bee’s editorial board this week, Rob Feckner, president of the California Public Employees Retirement System Board, didn’t deliver many surprises. He expressed the board’s concerns about placement agents – well-connected middlemen who steer billions of dollars of pension fund investments to their clients. He outlined plans to censure board members who may have had improper ties to them. But Feckner did make one unexpected statement. “I think when you’re looking at the $100,000 club, it’s something that needs to be looked at. I don’t…

  • Editorial: Big birds soar off the endangered list

    20 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am
    The brown pelican is off the endangered species list after 37 years.Today, you can see squadrons of them soaring, single file, just above the waves along the beaches and cliffs at Point Reyes National Seashore or alongside a ferry boat in San Francisco Bay. They're thriving now in the surf zone across the state. Brown pelicans, with their distinctive bills and pouches, were near extinction but have made a comeback. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced last week that it has taken the brown pelican off the endangered species list. This is a major environmental success story. It followed…
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    Star-Telegram.com: Editorials

  • Cornyn chooses principle in giving judicial nominee a vote

    20 Nov 2009 | 6:39 pm
    Republicans in the U.S. Senate blasted Democrats for obstructing up-or-down votes on President George W. Bush’s nominees to federal appellate courts.In 2005, when Republicans controlled the Senate as well as the White House, they threatened a "nuclear option," which would blow up the filibuster rules to keep that stalling technique from being used on judicial nominees.The chamber was brought back from the brink of a meltdown by 14 senators — seven Republicans and seven Democrats — who firmly stood in the center of the partisan divide and promised they would support a…

  • Upward goes Fort Worth’s Cultural District

    19 Nov 2009 | 6:19 pm
    The Fort Worth Cultural District welcomes another gem to its array of world-renowned institutions today with the opening of the spectacular Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. Visitors will be able to step into the past and future. They can experience deep outer space and the deep sea, wander on the prairie along a cattle trail during a thunderstorm and visit a modern-day gas drilling rig. The museum offers a glimpse of the area’s inhabitants 112 million years ago through the presence of the 60-foot-long, 12-foot-tall Paluxysaurus jonesi dinosaur exhibit, and it provides a vivid…

  • U.S. military seeks muscle and brains

    18 Nov 2009 | 6:12 pm
    The Latin phrase, sit mens sana in corpore sano, is often translated as "a sound mind in a sound body." It is a line said to have been used by an ancient Roman poet and was a favorite subject of Plato, the celebrated Greek philosopher. It’s also a popular motto for U.S. military academies and sports organizations. Throughout history, it has been an ideal description of a warrior.In the United States, that ideal warrior is apparently becoming an endangered species.A group of retired generals last week released a stunning report, "Ready, Willing and Unable to Serve." It indicated that…

  • Civil trials are right for five accused terrorists

    17 Nov 2009 | 6:06 pm
    Three years after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, a New York City jury convicted Ramzi Ahmed Yousef of plotting the attack. He also was convicted of planning to bomb airplanes.In 1995, Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and nine other men were convicted in a New York court of scheming to attack city landmarks, including the United Nations building.The federal courts in New York City have tried terrorists and delivered justice.These have been long, complicated trials, involving extraordinary security measures. But the proceedings have demonstrated that the American justice system can provide even…

  • For the University of North Texas, is the money in Denton or Dallas?

    16 Nov 2009 | 7:02 pm
    It’s interesting that the University of North Texas System has moved offices from its long-established home in Denton to set up shop in downtown Dallas.Interesting. Politically sensitive — especially in Denton. But not improper or wrong, despite what state Sen. Jane Nelson of Flower Mound is saying.Nelson, a UNT alumna, wrote a letter to Chancellor Lee Jackson saying that she "strongly objects" to the move, which occurred in August. It’s understandable that she would object. She sticks up for her senatorial district. Denton sits in it, and Dallas does not.UNT leaders must…
 
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    Cincinnati.Com - All Opinion

  • Palin's right: GOP should slug out primaries

    22 Nov 2009 | 2:22 am
    For Sarah Palin to tell Rush Limbaugh that Republicans should welcome primary fights within their own ranks is hardly surprising. As much as it may pain her many critics, she has a lot of history on her side.

  • Plenty of oil, gas for decades

    22 Nov 2009 | 2:22 am
    U.S. known reserves of natural gas exceed 100 years of supply at the current rate of consumption. Such good news horrifies people who relish scarcity - otherwise known as environmentalists.

  • Health plans operate on slim margins

    22 Nov 2009 | 2:22 am
    Those who believe that substantial savings could be realized by reducing the role of "for-profit" insurers in favor of increased "government-run" care should look carefully at the facts.

  • Job insecurity calls for all-business look

    22 Nov 2009 | 2:22 am
    With uncertain job security all around, it's at least reassuring to know that polishing a professional image can increase one's productivity at work, adding value to one's post.
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    Arkansas Online stories: Opinion and Letters*

  • A Curriculum for Democracy

    BY SOL STERN CITY JOURNAL
    22 Nov 2009 | 2:50 am
    At his Senate confirmation hearing in February, Arne Duncan succinctly summarized the Obama administration’s approach to education reform: “We must build upon what works. We must stop doing what doesn’t work.”

  • Unreliable memory shapes American legend

    <StaffMember: Philip Martin>
    22 Nov 2009 | 2:49 am
    Defense attorneys know memory is unreliable, a bad witness prone to confabulation and self-service.

  • Triumph of a dreamer

    BY NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF NEW YORK TIMES
    22 Nov 2009 | 2:48 am
    Any time anyone tells you that a dream is impossible, any time you’re discouraged by impossible challenges, just mutter this mantra: Tererai Trent.

  • Army values brought to life

    JOHN CHARLES EDWARDS SPECIAL TO THE DEMOCRAT-GAZET
    22 Nov 2009 | 2:47 am
    The army values are seven specific values that every soldier in the United States Army is to follow for guidance regarding their conduct. These values are the same for the newest private to the most senior general.

  • Grand Solution or Grab Bag?

    DAVID LEVINSON AMERICAN PROSPECT
    22 Nov 2009 | 2:46 am
    In July, as U.S. automakers were emerging from bankruptcy, President Barack Obama dramatically announced the American Graduation Initiative at Macomb Community College, some 12 miles from Detroit, calling for a massive federal investment of $12 billion in the nation’s community colleges.
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    The Buffalo News: Buffalo News Editorials

  • Blogzerpts / Opinions from buffalonews.com

    22 Nov 2009 | 4:26 am
    Excerpts from reader commentary on News staffers' online blog postings last week. Online comments come from registered users, but -- unlike reviewed and verified Everybody's Column letters -- can be posted under pen names.

  • Hold court in New York

    22 Nov 2009 | 4:26 am
    Attorney General Eric Holder is taking a calculated risk in moving the terror trials of Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his four alleged co-conspirators to a Manhattan federal court but, all in all, he made a good decision. The man believed to be responsible for the murder of 3,000 innocents should be tried fairly, with appropriate precautions, but in public, where the crime was committed.

  • Support for the Falls

    22 Nov 2009 | 4:26 am
    Niagara Falls needs more clout to lift itself out of its economic stupor, and with Sen. Charles M. Schumer's visit during the week, the city got it. Schumer pledged to find money to help move Niagara County Community College's Culinary Arts Institute into the Rainbow Boulevard mall and, perhaps even more significantly, to work with a developer who is sitting on land that could be put to valuable economic use.

  • Hold court in New York

    21 Nov 2009 | 7:54 pm
    Attorney General Eric Holder is taking a calculated risk in moving the terror trials of Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his four alleged co-conspirators to a Manhattan federal court but, all in all, he made a good decision. The man believed to be responsible for the murder of 3,000 innocents should be tried fairly, with appropriate precautions, but in public, where the crime was committed.

  • It seems to us . . .

    21 Nov 2009 | 3:44 am
    TOUGH CHOICES: Local shoppers apparently will be spared the angst, but elsewhere in the country Thanksgiving tradition may be in peril. Pumpkins are in short supply, thanks to two straight wet Midwestern summers.
 
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    Courant.com - Editorials

  • Insurance Layoffs Look Like A Bill-Buster

    21 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm
    I read the dismaying news regarding the layoff of several hundred employees by Aetna, which stated one of the reasons for the reductions was the "potential impact of health care reform" [Business, Nov. 19, "Aetna Laying Off 625; More Cuts Coming In 2010"].

  • In The Dark About Hospital Mistakes

    21 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm
    Connecticut's hospitals invite public scorn when they refuse to disclose serious medical mistakes that kill or injure patients.

  • Kevin O'Connor: One Who Won't Run

    21 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm
    The contest among Republicans to replace Gov. M. Jodi Rell became much less interesting when West Hartford lawyer Kevin O'Connor said he would not run for his party's nomination next year.

  • Food Insecurity: Where's Lunch Coming From?

    20 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm
    Anxiety about where the next meal is coming from is rising in America, and in Connecticut. A disturbing report released this week from the U.S. Department of Agriculture showed that "food insecurity" — worry about running out of it — had dramatically increased nationwide, from 36 million people in 2007 to 48 million in 2008. It's the worst showing since the annual studies began in 1995.

  • UConn On Storied Football Stage

    20 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm
    OK, so Notre Dame has been down for a while in the national football rankings. The once-fabled Fighting Irish haven't been a national championship contender since the early 1990s.
 
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    FresnoBee.com: Opinion

  • EDITORIAL: Accurate census count is vital to all who live here

    22 Nov 2009 | 9:10 am
    The federal government is preparing to conduct the census that is required every 10 years by the U.S. Constitution. The count technically takes place on April 1, which is Census Day. Every person living in our country is supposed to be counted through a mail questionnaire or by in-person interviews with census takers. Read comments

  • EDITORIAL: Legislature must abandon its hypocrisy on the state budget

    21 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am
    It was hardly a secret that the spending plan the California Legislature passed in July did not end the state's fiscal catastrophe. It wasn't until Wednesday, however, that the state got a clear sense of how large that catastrophe has become. Read comments

  • EDITORIAL: Thumbs up, thumbs down

    21 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am
    Thumbs up to Fresno County farmer John Diener, awarded California's 2009 Leopold Conservation Award. The $10,000 award is named in honor of conservationist Aldo Leopold and is presented annually in seven states to private landowners who practice exemplary land stewardship and management. Diener has been a pioneer in conservation tillage, a practice that reduces the number of tractor operations, dust emissions and diesel fuel. Read comments

  • EDITORIAL: Resolve ongoing CalPERS mess

    20 Nov 2009 | 7:20 am
    Officials at the California Public Employees' Retirement System are scrambling to respond to a series of embarrassing disclosures regarding close relationships between CalPERS officials and placement agents -- politically connected middlemen who helped steer billions of dollars of pension fund investments to their clients. Read comments

  • EDITORIAL: City's proposed cuts aren't pretty, but they're realistic

    20 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am
    Mayor Ashley Swearengin has offered a sweeping plan to balance the city's budget that could be almost $28 million out of balance over the next 18 months. While the proposed cuts are massive, they may have to be even larger as City Hall contends with lower tax revenues because of the economy and higher costs, particular a spike in the city's employee pension obligations. Read comments
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    Arizona Daily Star

  • Our vision, hope for future rooted in higher ed

    21 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm
    The University of Arizona must draw on its greatest strength — collective creativity — to withstand the budgetary assault from the Arizona Legislature. That's the message from UA President Robert N. Shelton during his annual state of the university address, anyway.

  • Letters to the editor

    21 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm
    'Capitol Link' tracks DC action

  • Raytheon scientists showed how much teachers matter

    21 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm
    This past summer I worked as a teacher intern at Raytheon Missile Systems as part of the internship program headed by the Southern Arizona Science and Math Internship Center at the University of Arizona's College of Education. At the conclusion of my three-year commitment I will earn a master of arts in teaching and teacher education with a focus on science education. My goals: become the kind of teacher who inspires kids to learn more outside of my classroom and steer kids into science and engineering careers.

  • Bound and determined on immigration revamp

    21 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm
    The following appeared in the Dallas Morning News on Nov. 18:

  • Biotech firm taught need for teamwork, flexibility

    21 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm
    I have often heard it said that school does not prepare students with the tools they need to be successful in the work force. I have been known to express this opinion myself when I was in a position to hire and supervise employees. Science and technology companies, in particular, find it difficult to hire employees with the skills they need and wonder why they aren't being taught those skills in school.
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    Akron Beacon Journal

  • Third Frontier spirit

    Despite a prolonged recession, Ohio's Third Frontier project continues to generate positive economic news, growing jobs while other industry sectors show declines. To be sure, the state's investment in high technology, which began in 2002 under then-Gov. Bob Taft, hasn't created another Research Triangle to rival North Carolina's. That may be decades away. The Third Frontier has helped to open the way for the state to get there.

  • Big money on campus

    Approval last week by Kent State trustees of a plan to spend $200 million on upgrades at the main campus promises many welcome changes, from long-deferred maintenance to renovations and new construction. President Lester Lefton pointed to ''Soviet-style architecture,'' buildings thrown up ''semi-haphazardly'' in the 1970s before energy conservation and aesthetics were so important.

  • Big money on campus (part 2)

    Lester Lefton has won the confidence of the board of trustees at Kent State University. They extended the contract of the university president last week, adding three years with an automatic renewal in each subsequent year. The trustees applauded Lefton's progress in increasing enrollment and retention. If he continues to meet his benchmarks, he could collect as much as $612,350 a year in total compensation.

  • Doing nothing

    The Republican majority in the Ohio Senate has expanded on the concept of a ''do nothing'' legislature. The state budget has been a topic of much intense conversation the past 10 months, and yet Senate Republicans still have not put forward a complete or credible proposal. On Wednesday, they attempted to pose as responsible lawmakers, describing as a fair compromise their plan to close an $851 million hole in the state budget. One problem? Not enough Republicans or Democrats were willing to support the plan.

  • Chief justice in pursuit

    Nearing his final year on the Ohio Supreme Court, Thomas Moyer renewed this week his push to change how the state selects its judges and thus advance public confidence in the judicial branch. The chief justice's timing is good. Memories of the 2000 campaign that targeted then Justice Alice Robie Resnick (and made Ohio the poster child for judicial reform) are still fresh. This summer, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the chief justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court to step aside from a case affecting the largest contributor to his campaign.
 
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    Opinion Blog

  • How one man and a team of helpers feed hundreds each day in Syracuse

    Dick Case
    22 Nov 2009 | 2:53 am
    Michelle GabelThe Post-StandardDan Wade, chief of operations and kitchen manager at the Samaritan Center in Syracuse, says he loves his job helping to feed others.Count Dan Wade a happy man. “Every morning I come in here with a smile,” he’s...

  • Hunger in America: Recession, unemployment bring a rising tide of ‘food insecurity’

    The Post-Standard Editorial Board
    22 Nov 2009 | 2:02 am
    David Lassman/The Post-Standard MEMBERS OF Syracuse Partners Against Hunger stock the pantry at First English Lutheran Church on James Street in April. Just in time for Thanksgiving, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released a shocking report last week on hunger...

  • Democrats are from Venus; Republicans are from Mars

    The Post-Standard
    22 Nov 2009 | 2:01 am
    Draper By Alan Draper St. Lawrence University Why do Democrats play, while Republican play for keeps? Why is there no equivalent of the Club for Growth, which — as seen in New York’s 23rd Congressional District election — targets moderate...

  • Saturday's news quiz for Central New York

    The Post-Standard Editorial Board
    21 Nov 2009 | 2:02 am
    AP 8. TRUE OR FALSE: Sen. Ruben Diaz, D-Bronx, poses with the official license plate of the New York State Legislature. 1. A recount of the race in the 23rd Congressional District between Democrat Bill Owens and Conservative Doug Hoffman...

  • New report on New York Legislature shines light on ethical lapses in Albany

    The Post-Standard Editorial Board
    20 Nov 2009 | 2:02 am
    APLawmakers grappling with the budget deficit have yet to finish work on ethics reform. New York state legislators must stand for re-election every two years if they want to keep their jobs. Over the past decade, 139 of Albany’s legislators...
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    toledoblade.com Opinions

  • Kirk - The Job-Creation Olympics

  • All God and #8217;s children

    AS SCIENCE continues to plumb the mysteries of the universe, we may be closer than we think to discovering whether life exists on other worlds. Scientists who once scoffed at the idea now thoughtfully debate its implications. If aliens suddenly materialized in the middle of St. Peter’s Basilica, their presence would no longer start an argument about whether they have a right to exist according to Scripture. Four hundred years after the Italian monk Giordano Bruno was tortured and killed by the Inquisition (some say for speculating about other planets), the Catholic Church could be among…

  • Nursing damage at Owens

    HIDDEN among Owens Community College’s vague explanations and apologies for the self-inflicted damage to its registered nursing program is this realization: The people responsible for the program understood neither the importance of accreditation nor the process for maintaining it. Accreditation of an academic program is a complex, time-consuming process but it’s not mysterious. Indeed, accrediting agencies generally provide schools with exhaustively detailed instructions for every stage of the process, including when areas are found lacking and how to fix them. Instead of…

  • Let the killing end

    DOGS across Lucas County — as well as their owners — are rejoicing at the news that dog warden Tom Skeldon has decided to vacate his office by the end of the year. We hope this ends the wholesale slaughter of lost and abandoned dogs and ushers in an era in which county residents are protected from vicious canines and homes are found for all animals suitable for adoption or rehabilitation. The ghastly operation at the dog pound truly offended the sensibilities of this community. When Toledoans found out what was going on, their hearts were touched and they demanded an end to the…

  • Let sick workers stay home

    As a nation and a region, we are battling uniquely difficult circumstances created by a harsh economic recession and a national health emergency — the spread of the H1N1 flu. Call it a request or a suggestion, but to avoid having one problem compound the other here in Lucas County, we’d like all workers to be able to stay home when they’re sick with the flu. It is recommended that all workers with influenza stay home until they are well, which is generally considered to be 24 hours without a fever without the use of aspirin, Motrin, etc. All told, those infected with H1N1 or…
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    Tribune-Review Opinion

  • Seeing moral grays in 9/11

    22 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am
    Picking up last Sunday's paper could make a reader a little airsick -- even while standing in the driveway. The Washington Post "news analysis" on the front page carried the headline "9/11 trial could become a parable of right and wrong: Before worldwide audience, both prosecution, defense seek control of narrative."

  • The casinos probe: Another black eye?

    22 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am
    Statewide grand juries are not convened in Pennsylvania for fishing expeditions. Thus, word that one is investigating how licenses were awarded for slots casinos in Pittsburgh and the Poconos should not be easily dismissed.

  • Prevailing ignorance

    22 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am
    "Mankind have a great aversion to intellectual labor," reminded Samuel Johnson, the great 18th-century man of letters. "Even supposing knowledge to be easily attainable, more people would be content to be ignorant than would take even a little trouble to acquire it." It appears to be the sentiment to which Pittsburgh City Council President Doug Shields subscribes.

  • Best of the Blogs

    22 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  • Sunday pops

    22 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am
    Jimmy Carter tells Chinese reporters that he didn't order an attack on Iran to free 52 American hostages taken 30 years ago this month because, in part, "I didn't want to kill 20,000 Iranians." What a guy.
 
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    Comment from Times Online

  • A game of two halves: cheating and whining

    21 Nov 2009 | 4:01 pm
    I am grateful to all the many football pundits and even politicians who have declared that France’s qualification for the World Cup finals after a disputed goal “casts doubt on the integrity of the beautiful game”. In these recessionary times we need all the laughter we can get; and what could be more comical than this concerted pretence that professional football has for years been anything other than an inordinately well funded assembly of inveterate whingers and cheats?

  • Sadly, most people with a learning disability should not have children

    21 Nov 2009 | 4:01 pm
    When my little sister was a child in the 1960s, we never said to her that she was mentally handicapped; no one in our family would ever have considered doing so. One day, though, when she was about 10, she received a visit from a social worker, as she did occasionally, perhaps because my mother was receiving money from the council, and this person left my sister in tears. “She says I’m mentally handicapped,” said my sister, sobbing.

  • Wind of deceit drives Labour’s green energy plan

    21 Nov 2009 | 4:01 pm
    Blimey, what a hive of activity. In the space of 10 days we are told that wind turbines up to 50ft high are going to be allowed everywhere. We are given streamlined planning rules that will allow nuclear power stations and vast wind farms all over the place. And an energy bill is announced containing a levy that will make us pay more for our electricity to fund clean coal-fired power stations.

  • Belle lays bare the myth that every hooker is a victim

    21 Nov 2009 | 4:01 pm
    Two things struck me in the aftermath of my interview with Belle de Jour last week. The first is that several of my female colleagues in the media appeared to be deeply personally offended by the fact that Belle, or rather Dr Brooke Magnanti, wasn’t at any point raped or beaten up during the 14 months she spent as a call girl.

  • Peter Mandelson bets on two sure-fire losers

    21 Nov 2009 | 4:01 pm
    A faint smile flickered across the lips of the Son of Heaven as Barack Obama left the Great Hall of the People in Beijing with a flea in his ear. The creditor-in-chief to America had given his suppliant a humiliating lecture about its spendthrift ways.
 
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    Haaretz.com - Opinion

  • Obama must deal with important questions of the Mideast conflict

    22 Nov 2009 | 1:33 pm
    For 41 years, Washington turned a blind eye. It protested a bit, scolded a bit, and mostly made do with periodically stating that its policy has not changed - it still opposes settlements in the territories and does not recognize the annexation of East Jerusalem or the Golan Heights. Suddenly, it gave us a resounding slap, but one of the frustrating kind that misses the cheek and flies through empty air. Because the American demand that we freeze construction in the settlements, that "strong message" containing a threat, has become a personal duel between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and…

  • The road to Damascus is open

    21 Nov 2009 | 5:25 pm
    Something is cooking between Washington and Damascus. U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have been talking a lot about regional peace and not just an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord. In addition, Syrian President Bashar Assad is calling on Israel to resume negotiations. Israel must seriously consider entering peace talks with Syria and embracing an American initiative for an agreement that would include an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights, security arrangements, as well as nature reserves and tourist areas in the Golan. ...

  • The danger of mutiny

    21 Nov 2009 | 5:24 pm
    As soon as the defense minister said "We must be firm and uncompromising with the phenomenon of refusal [to obey orders to evacuate settlements]," I understood that nothing would be done. That's exactly the way Ehud Barak expressed himself after the election results were announced. "The voters have sent us into the opposition, and we are going there without compromising," he said, and immediately entered into negotiations with Benjamin Netanyahu. ...

  • Days of wine and butter

    21 Nov 2009 | 5:22 pm
    Two senior officers, an Israeli and an Italian, were dining in Tel Aviv recently when the Italian made a toast to compliment the friendship between their countries. "We, the Mediterraneans, are people of oil and wine," he said, contrasting Israelis, Italians, Frenchmen, Spaniards, Greeks and Turks with the "people of beer and butter" from Northern Europe. It was an interesting observation, especially from the perspective of another guest at the table, still recovering from the strange exhibits at Stockholm's military museum. They can briefly be summed up as stating that much of humankind has…

  • Heavy-handed in the capital

    21 Nov 2009 | 5:18 pm
    The peace process, intended to advance Israel's main strategic interest by achieving a two-state solution, is in deep crisis. Efforts by U.S. special envoy George Mitchell to renew negotiations on a final-status agreement have reached an impasse. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has announced his intention to retire from political life; over the weekend he called for "resistance" along the lines of the protests at the West Bank towns of Bil'in and Na'alin. The dispute focuses on the expansion of settlements in the West Bank and the Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. The international…
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    Editorial and Opinion | The Times of India

  • Guys And Dolls

    22 Nov 2009 | 10:39 am
    In close circles, senior family members often whispered and teased father and grandpa on their unabashed crush on Hollywood movie stars.

  • A short-sighted agenda

    22 Nov 2009 | 10:30 am
    The glancing reference to South Asia in the Barack Obama-Hu Jintao joint statement on November 17 in Beijing has raised a storm of comment in India, not least from the South Block which read it as insinuating a third party into what it insists must be a bilateral Indo-Pakistan relationship.

  • Coming To America

    22 Nov 2009 | 10:30 am
    Manmohan Singh must engage the US with some caution

  • Foot On Pedal

    22 Nov 2009 | 10:30 am
    India's automobile industry is going great guns

  • Save Maharashtra

    22 Nov 2009 | 10:30 am
    The assault on media points to poor governance
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    The Hindu - Opinion

  • Attack on IBN

    23 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am
    The attack on the IBN offices and the assault of its journalists, including women (Nov. 21), are a blot on the Marathi tradition of honouring women which the Shiv Sena always talks about. Its MP Sanjay Raut’s justification of the brutal ...

  • Stop illegal mining

    23 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am
    The Central Empowered Committee (CEC) of the Supreme Court could not have used clearer language than it has done in recommending that illegal mining must be stopped in six mines in two villages of Andhra Pradesh’s Anantapur district that ...

  • A strategic retreat

    23 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am
    The Centre has been forced by the groundswell of protest from farmers and opposition parties to agree to amend a controversial section of a recent ordinance on sugarcane pricing. Pricing issues in the sugar industry involving the cane growers, ...

  • Hindi media

    23 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am
    The reason why English newspapers do not figure in the list of the top 10 dailies in India is simple — a majority of them do not relate to people and to the ground realities. Mrinal Pande’s piece (Nov. 18) analyses the media ...

  • The autonomous jihad in America

    23 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am
    Once distant enemies now pose a real threat to the U.S. at home.
 
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    HindustanTimes.com - Top Views News Headlines

  • Kamal Nath the Gandhi buddy

    22 Nov 2009 | 9:54 am
    Three things about Union minister Kamal Nath have remained unchanged in the past thirty years: chewing gum, collecting matchboxes and his loyalty to Sanjay Gandhi, Indira Gandhi's younger son.

  • Stop and think to succeed

    22 Nov 2009 | 9:52 am
    When people don’t have time to think, they become identical. They are driven to react rather than respond  — as when people panic. Mass panic is virtually impossible to produce when people remain calm, stop and think.

  • The demands are justified but the manner of protest is wrong

    22 Nov 2009 | 8:31 am
    The report Bitter harvest (November 20) was shocking. The demands of the sugarcane farmers of Uttar Pradesh were justified but the manner in which they protested was disgusting.

  • Sino demand ties

    22 Nov 2009 | 8:28 am
    Chinese have it. But as far as their sales at the ongoing India International Trade Fair in New Delhi go, they have it in too little time

  • Clamp down on sainiks

    22 Nov 2009 | 8:12 am
    The Shiv Sena and the MNS thrive on criminal actions. So why the kid gloves treatment?
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    Comment from Times Online

  • A game of two halves: cheating and whining

    21 Nov 2009 | 4:01 pm
    I am grateful to all the many football pundits and even politicians who have declared that France’s qualification for the World Cup finals after a disputed goal “casts doubt on the integrity of the beautiful game”. In these recessionary times we need all the laughter we can get; and what could be more comical than this concerted pretence that professional football has for years been anything other than an inordinately well funded assembly of inveterate whingers and cheats?

  • Sadly, most people with a learning disability should not have children

    21 Nov 2009 | 4:01 pm
    When my little sister was a child in the 1960s, we never said to her that she was mentally handicapped; no one in our family would ever have considered doing so. One day, though, when she was about 10, she received a visit from a social worker, as she did occasionally, perhaps because my mother was receiving money from the council, and this person left my sister in tears. “She says I’m mentally handicapped,” said my sister, sobbing.

  • Wind of deceit drives Labour’s green energy plan

    21 Nov 2009 | 4:01 pm
    Blimey, what a hive of activity. In the space of 10 days we are told that wind turbines up to 50ft high are going to be allowed everywhere. We are given streamlined planning rules that will allow nuclear power stations and vast wind farms all over the place. And an energy bill is announced containing a levy that will make us pay more for our electricity to fund clean coal-fired power stations.

  • Belle lays bare the myth that every hooker is a victim

    21 Nov 2009 | 4:01 pm
    Two things struck me in the aftermath of my interview with Belle de Jour last week. The first is that several of my female colleagues in the media appeared to be deeply personally offended by the fact that Belle, or rather Dr Brooke Magnanti, wasn’t at any point raped or beaten up during the 14 months she spent as a call girl.

  • Peter Mandelson bets on two sure-fire losers

    21 Nov 2009 | 4:01 pm
    A faint smile flickered across the lips of the Son of Heaven as Barack Obama left the Great Hall of the People in Beijing with a flea in his ear. The creditor-in-chief to America had given his suppliant a humiliating lecture about its spendthrift ways.
 
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    The Independent - Opinion RSS Feed

  • Rhiannon Harries: Come dine with me. I trust you're all OK with a takeaway...

    21 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm
    Were television schedules any reflection of a nation's interests, recent visitors to Britain could be forgiven for thinking they'd arrived in a land of eternal merriment, inhabited by people who do little but sing, dance and eat.

  • Mark Borkowski: Henry won, but he lost out on a huge PR coup

    21 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm
    Image, substance, celebrity and infamy become desperately confused in football. Legends and folklore are contrived, reputations rebuilt and deeds embellished as time passes. Fact and fiction are blurred and, eventually, we can't tell the hero from the villain. While we try to work out and drill Wikipedia, the soccer circus moves on. After "the hand of Gaul", the footballing legend of Thierry Henry will be forever examined, assessed and blamed for epoch-making Irish sporting heartbreak for years to come.

  • Dom Joly: Follow the luvvies – Iraq will soon be hot

    21 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm
    Back to Notting Hill to meet somebody for lunch. This is no longer the place I used to live in. Bits of Portobello Road look like they've been lifted straight off the set for Friends and never been updated.

  • Andrew Martin: Am I odd? I only quite like Marmite

    21 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm
    Mr Jim Keary, manager of a 24-hour garage in Kingsthorpe, Northamptonshire has stopped selling Marmite after his entire stock was repeatedly pinched. "What's the point of selling something if every time you stock it, it gets stolen?" he asked. On one occasion, the thief left two jars behind but came back for them the next night. In all, he has cleared out Mr Keary's entire stock of Marmite four times in a month. The thief appears on CCTV images. He is a thin, bald man who presumably now suffers from whatever is the opposite of a vitamin B deficiency.

  • Joan Smith: Modernity – an end to male-run faiths and 'honour' crimes

    21 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm
    When demonstrators gathered in London yesterday to protest against sharia, the Archbishop of Canterbury was otherwise engaged with the Pope. It's almost two years since Rowan Williams caused an outcry when he suggested that recognising aspects of sharia would help social cohesion, and, every day, evidence accumulates to show how wrong he was. Women, girls and young men desperately need protection from religious laws and the patriarchal attitudes associated with them, as two ghastly events demonstrated last week.
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    Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

  • My financial embarrassment | Ariane Sherine

    Ariane Sherine
    22 Nov 2009 | 11:00 am
    Is it just me? A friend's stance on petty pilfering has made me question my ethical standardsA friend recently returned, seemingly traumatised, from what he described as "a terrible date". After much prompting, he relayed the reason in a hushed and horrified voice: "She tried to force me to steal money from a car park machine."I was fascinated. Had the date, mistakenly thinking she had spotted criminal potential in my friend, decided to enlist him – under the cunning guise of sharing a romantic evening – as her accomplice in this most unglamorous act of theft? Had she brought a…

  • Libel reform will liberate us all | Jo Glanville

    Jo Glanville
    22 Nov 2009 | 9:41 am
    Jack Straw's move is welcome, but cosmetic surgery won't be enough to end this international embarrassmentJack Straw's announcement at the weekend that he was committed to reforming libel law is a significant step forward in the campaign to tackle our infamous laws. Does it mark a sea change? The justice minister's evidence to the culture, media and sport select committee's inquiry on libel earlier this year did not suggest that he had been convinced that fundamental reform was required. It now seems that the government can no longer afford to ignore the growing demands for action since Index…

  • The many voices of hate | Michael Lisman

    Michael Washburn
    22 Nov 2009 | 9:00 am
    America's white supremacists may be riddled with competing factions but their vile ideas still seep into the mainstreamJust as Barack Obama's election infused the floundering Democratic party with energy, it breathed new life into the bleaker precincts of the American polity. Obama's political progress, coupled with the faltering economy, has stoked the anxious racial panic of the country's most myopic, hateful citizens. As the Southern Poverty Law Centre, the department for homeland security [PDF] and the FBI, have noted, the last 12 months has seen the largest rise in hate group enrollment…

  • Michael Tomasky: the Senate vote

    Michael Tomasky
    22 Nov 2009 | 5:29 am
    Well, it passed. Just barely, but it passed. So now what?First of all, it's worth remembering that the bill could face several more cloture votes. There will be a cloture vote to end debate and vote on final passage, which is the biggie. But there could be others -- one expert on such matters told me over the summer there could be as many as five, depending on how the debate is structured. So many hurdles remain.This means that Harry Reid still needs to hold together his fragile coalition to advance the bill. When Mary Landrieu and Blanche Lincoln say that their votes last night shouldn't be…

  • Rihanna's leadership on domestic abuse | Alex Macpherson

    Alex Macpherson
    22 Nov 2009 | 4:00 am
    The R&B singer's candour about her experience of domestic violence is not just admirable; it has changed women's livesNever has a case of domestic abuse played out as publicly as that of R&B star Rihanna. She was brutally beaten up by her ex-boyfriend, the singer Chris Brown, on the eve of the Grammy awards; within a fortnight, a leaked photo of her bruised, swollen face was plastered across the internet; the subsequent 10 months have seen every titbit of possible gossip regarding her recovery process disseminated and scrutinised.In spite of her experience being played out under an…
 
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    The Economist: Daily columns

  • Art.view: Colour me dazzled

    21 Nov 2009 | 3:51 am
    Record auction prices for rare coloured diamonds“If you have money to invest, there is no safer haven than something rare,” says Laurence Graff, the London-born “King of Diamonds”. If this is sales talk, he is his own best customer. In December 2008, during some of the bleakest days of the credit crisis, Mr Graff paid $24.3m for the 35.56-carat, 17th-century Wittelsbach blue diamond at Christie’s in London. He set the auction record for any jewel. But in his opinion, “it was the bargain of the century. In my life, it is the rarest of them all; it is the…

  • Tech.view: Sod it

    19 Nov 2009 | 11:48 pm
    The latest plastic pitches are a goal-scorer’s delightIT’S official: the grass is greener in Europe. International football’s governing body, FIFA, has ruled that the soccer pitches in South Africa where the World Cup will be played next summer are not fit enough for the month-long competition. Pitches planted with locally grown kikuyu grass will have to be dug up and replanted with lush European rye grass. No matter that the European turf, bred for a damper and cooler climate, will require more water, fertiliser and maintenance. FIFA is adamant: the hardy local stuff is not…

  • Europe.view: Looking eastwards, even further

    18 Nov 2009 | 10:07 pm
    Could China fill a power vacuum in eastern Europe?AS THE countries of eastern Europe bump nervously between a near-neutralist Germany, a revisionist Russia and an absent-minded America, the search is on for a powerful outsider, with strong interests in the region, willing to put all kinds of clout behind the smaller countries’ sovereignty and independence. Once, Britain filled that role. The Royal Navy helped the Baltic states win their independence after the first world war. Britain also ruled the southern part of Georgia as a protectorate from 1918 to 1920 and sent a daring expedition…

  • Green.view: The rise of slime

    17 Nov 2009 | 2:07 am
    Warmer water is exacerbating problems in the oceansTHE fishermen of Kokongi, Japan, have seen record hauls this year. They are not, however, very happy. Their nets are trapping jellyfish: giant, gelatinous, wobbly and worthless. Jellyfish were once rare along these shores, but are now an almost annual occurrence.It is the same story in many other parts of the world. Jellyfish are blamed for damaging fishing, shutting down power and desalination plants, and upsetting swimmers. ...

  • Business.view: Start-up nations

    17 Nov 2009 | 1:21 am
    A drive to turn the whole world into entrepreneursAN OPPOSITION is supposed to oppose, of course—but Britain’s Conservative Party, poised on the brink of power, is sending an odd message by pledging to scrap the country’s annual Enterprise Week, which began this year on November 16th. Apparently, this is because Gordon Brown, the prime minister, is a well-known supporter of the week, and the Conservatives believe that every week should be Enterprise Week. “We need a focus on enterprise and entrepreneurship 52 weeks of the year,” according to Mark Prisk, a party…
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    FT.com - Comment and analysis

  • A risky trial that offers little reward

    22 Nov 2009 | 10:35 am
    The decision to try Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four other alleged 9/11 conspirators in a civilian court in New York City, rather than before a military commission in a far-off place involves a needless risk, writes Clive Crook

  • Could sovereign debt be the new subprime?

    22 Nov 2009 | 10:33 am
    As policymakers rush to implement reforms, they are apt to create distortions that pave the way for the next disaster. Gillian Tett warns that the banking sector's balance sheets are increasingly stuffed with government bonds

  • Put space at the heart of US-India relations

    22 Nov 2009 | 10:32 am
    After the end of the Soviet Union, the US has had no real peers in outer space – India can help Washington pursue its goals at lower cost, write Karl Inderfurth and Raja Mohan

  • Van Rompuy is the right man for the job

    22 Nov 2009 | 10:22 am
    Belgian leadership consists of bringing consensus too a fractious coalition, exactly what the president of the European Union has to do, writes Wolfgang Münchau

  • Europe risking irrelevance as world moves on

    20 Nov 2009 | 12:59 pm
    The appointments of the EU's first full-time president and foreign minister suggest it is not adapting fast enough to profound changes that are eroding its influence, writes Tony Barber
 
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    Home/Opinion

  • For all our sakes, the only way is up for the yuan

    22 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am
    The economies of China and the United States are joined at the hip. So it is not surprising their central banks have issued similar statements on the value of their currencies in the past fortnight. With Barack Obama concluding his first state visit in China without agreement on currency reform, the world is again worried about the undervaluation of the yuan and the sliding US dollar. The People's Bank of China hinted it might allow the yuan to strengthen and, in a rare comment, US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke expressed support for a strong US dollar. Both statements are attempts to…

  • Over his dead body: a fight for a village's wealth

    22 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am
    For more than a month, Shanxi villagers have kept the coffin containing their friend's body in a makeshift tent, relying on an electric fan to cool it down when the weather gets too warm.

  • Hong Kong's new geopark could create more problems than it solves

    22 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am
    An area of Hong Kong has been designated as China's 183rd national geopark. There is no doubt that this collection of hexagonal rock columns, formed by volcanic activity, around Sai Kung's coastline should be protected. However, turning them into a national geopark is not going to help unless the park is managed extremely carefully.

  • Doctor's resourceful measures saved women in Sheung Wan hospital

    22 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am
    Dr Osler Thomas ("War hero, who survived pit of corpses, dies", November 15) was appointed medical superintendent of an institution (now upgraded to a hospital) located in Sandy Bay for convalescing patients in 1967.

  • Arrogance and fear drives currency policy

    22 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am
    What drives China's currency policy? Is it arrogance, fear or a mix of the two? At present, China is behaving like a rogue state, the only significant trading country to insist on its right to peg its currency to the US dollar and to maintain controls on most movements of capital. The net result is not merely to help sustain the imbalances in global trade, which is at the root of financial instability, but to force the adjustment process not so much on the US itself but on to almost every other country. The pressure on some, such as Brazil, has become so great that they have had to impose…
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    Le Monde diplomatique - English edition

  • Will Turkey benefit from Ergenekon?

    Hakkı Taş
    18 Nov 2009 | 1:05 am
    Is the Ergenekon affair helping to demilitarise Turkish politics? Or is the country's post-Islamist government using it to advance its own authority at the expense of the military?It's always hard to follow what's going on inside Turkey but never more so than since Ergenekon. Turkey has faced four coups of one sort or another since its transition to democracy in 1946. But this is the first time those accused of an alleged coup have been put on trial: former generals and active duty officers (...) - Blog posts / Exclusive

  • Kut Central Prison, Iraq

    Emma LeBlanc
    6 Nov 2009 | 7:06 am
    Kut Central Prison is attached to the main police station in the capital of Wasit province, southern Iraq. Designed to hold 100 people on a temporary, pre-trial basis, the prison now frequently houses up to 250 inmates —sometimes as many as 280 — including women. Convicted murderers on death row are held in the same overcrowded cells as petty thieves. Sayyed Serag, a former inmate, was cleared by US forces of suspected involvement in a Shiite insurgent group. He was moved from an American (...) - 2009/11 / Images

  • Follow us

    6 Nov 2009 | 3:21 am
    We publish all our articles on this site, but, for your convenience, we also make them available in formats and on websites which allow you to follow us automatically LMD by email : Sign up for summaries of each issue of LMD (see Free dispatches top right) Subscribe: Read each complete issue in print, online or digitally Access our archives Visit Diplomatic Channels, our free interactive open (...) - 00

  • Women's untold stories

    Michael Deibert
    5 Nov 2009 | 4:08 am
    The Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasrin, 47, has the European parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, and the Unesco Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence. Nasrin is an outspoken feminist and secularist, and a stern critic of the role of religion in the oppression of women and the poor. She worked as a physician in Bangladesh's understaffed public hospitals before her exile in Europe and the US in 1994. Since she published her first book Shikore Bipul Khudha (...) - Blog posts / Exclusive

  • The Taliban aren't so tribal

    5 Nov 2009 | 3:37 am
    Patrick Porter talks to George Miller about his article in November's Le Monde diplomatique, “Culture wars in Afghanistan”. He explains that the US has suddenly realised it needs to better understand the Taliban, but has failed to do so. download (MP3, 15.7 Mb) - 2009/11 / Podcasts, 2009/11 - Afghanistan
 
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    TheStar.com - Opinions

  • CAS needs help now

    22 Nov 2009 | 12:30 am
    In less than a month, an agency that cares for some of Ontario's most vulnerable children in northern First Nations communities plans to close its doors because it can't afford to pay its bills.

  • Our carbon plan ranks at bottom

    22 Nov 2009 | 12:30 am
    Canada prides itself on being an international do-gooder. We bask in our high rankings in the UN's Human Development Index and reflexively point to our historical contribution as peacekeepers.

  • TTC riders in the dark

    22 Nov 2009 | 12:30 am
    What we had here last week was a failure by the TTC to communicate. As a result, thousands of Toronto transit riders were left fuming, and that shouldn't happen again.

  • City can lead on election reforms

    21 Nov 2009 | 12:30 am
    Imagine an election where all citizens had one vote but those who controlled a corporation could cast a second ballot, and then vote again, multiple times, if they owned multiple businesses. Most Canadians would consider that grossly undemocratic, and rightly so.

  • Aboriginals and prisons

    21 Nov 2009 | 12:30 am
    One in five inmates in a federal prison is aboriginal. For women, that figure rises to one in three. These are astonishingly high rates of incarceration given that aboriginal people account for just 4 per cent of Canada's adult population.
 
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    Content Search Results

  • The police aren't always right

    Lorne Gunter
    17 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm
    One of the most frequently heard arguments in the past two weeks from supporters of the gun registry eager to salvage the federal firearms database is: If police chiefs and police associations support the registry, why don't law-and-order conservatives?

  • David Frum: 'Why be Evita when you can be Madonna'

    David Frum
    13 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm
    Anyone who hoped Palin's book would reveal a more thoughtful side is in for disappointment

  • Worth spelling out

    Colby Cosh
    12 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm
    I have probably already written more than one piece with a phrase like "Herouxville wins" in it, but word of a newer, thicker citizenship guide has my fingers wandering toward the same old keys. Herouxville wins again. In 2007, when the Quebec town of about 1,300 entered the "reasonable accommodation" debat

  • The Fort Hood double standard

    Father Raymond J. de Souza
    11 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm
    Add Fort Hood to the list. It's getting longer: New York, Washington, Jerusalem, Bali, Madrid, London, Bombay. It's the list of places where, we are told, it is important to be vigilant about anti-Muslim activity.

  • Cultural suicide

    Lorne Gunter
    10 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm
    Political correctness will be the death of Western civilization because unlike our earlier forms of pluralistic tolerance, PC is wilfully blind to the lack of reciprocal tolerance in other cultures. Indeed, the more others hate us, the more PC denies their hatred.
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