Commentary
Appreciating Gerald Ford
By MARTIN SCHRAM
Friday, November 17, 2006
One of the mistakes we in the media make most often has to do with timing.
When we have bad news to report, we pounce and publish. But when we have something good to say, well, we take our time.
Habeas corpus, the sometime right
An editorial / By Dale McFeatters
Friday, November 17, 2006
The Bush administration is unrelenting in its push for the power to jail people indefinitely.
In a brief filed with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court in Richmond, the Justice Department argued that the controversial new detainee law empowers it to arrest and imprison indefinitely immigrants _ green card residents, students, tourists, illegals, basically any foreigner _ on suspicion of terrorism or designation as an "enemy combatant."
The Bush administration gets to decide on what grounds someone is a terrorist suspect or an enemy combatant.
Trivializing war crimes
An editorial / By Dale McFeatters
Friday, November 17, 2006
In the abstract, the International Criminal Court to try war crimes makes a certain sense, but the United States has refused to join and the latest attempt to prosecute top U.S.
A mellow November day in the woods
By KEN WEBER
Friday, November 17, 2006
The hawk is a surprise, but I almost expected the other discoveries of this walk: the empty oriole nest, the abandoned hornet colony, the busy little songbirds, the signs of otter activity, and the gleaming, swaying grasses.
Language skills
By PAUL C. CAMPOS
Friday, November 17, 2006
These days, whenever I try to navigate some electronic bureaucracy via a touchtone phone, the first choice I'm asked to make is often whether I prefer to hear my menu of options in English or Spanish.
Good thing from a bad moment
An editorial / By Dale McFeatters
Friday, November 17, 2006
Few political careers have fallen faster than Virginia Sen. George Allen's. In just under two months, he went from presidential prospect to senatorial has-been.
Make nice in Congress but investigate
An editorial / By Dale McFeatters
Friday, November 17, 2006
With the Republicans chastened and the victorious Democrats made cautious by the election outcome, Washington is enjoying a rare warm and fuzzy moment as the lawmakers and even the president embrace the spirit of conciliation and cooperation.
And, at least for the time being, they probably really mean it.
President Bush says he is willing to cooperate with the Democratic majority and his aides note that he did so as governor of Texas.
Taking race, gender out of politics
By DAN K. THOMASSON
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Will all those who believe Illinois Sen. Barack Obama should make a serious run for the 2008 Democrat presidential nomination please raise their hands? Now will all those who believe that he should step aside for the likely frontrunner, Sen.
Niceness reigns in capital _ for now
By PHILIP GAILEY
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Between the Iraq war and congressional scandals, President Bush and the Republicans all but handed Democrats the election victory that broke the back of GOP rule on Capitol Hill.
Hanging Saddam is an ironic step backwards
By JOHN CRISP
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Saddam is sentenced to hang, and few are more deserving of that fate. The case is problematic, though. During the course of the trial, three of Saddam's lawyers were assassinated, the judge had to be replaced, and tiresome polemical tirades of various kinds were permitted.
Furthermore, while the trial proceeded, Iraq was coming apart at the seams.
