I wrote 98 columns last year. By my count, 24 of them – one in four – had to do with race.It’s a typical tally and one I’m quite comfortable with. But it’s too many for John, a college student in Broward County, Fla. John says his sociology class keeps a “scorecard” on how often […]

If you want to know why Americans mistrust government and politicians, consider this: Government subsidies and regulatory policies are up for sale to the highest bidder.Two recent stories, barely blips on the national radar, demonstrate the danger of government grown too large and a regulatory apparatus grown too strong.And they, in turn, lay bare the […]

Identify theft is now the top consumer complaint in this county.The Federal Trade Commission tracks consumer complaints and, in 2002, 43 percent of all complaints dealt with identify theft, cases where someone uses electronic information to impersonate us, run up credit card bills and ruin our credit.It’s a theft that’s exceedingly difficult to recover from […]

The first fuel-cell-powered automobile probably won’t be called the Honda Hindenburg. The Hindenburg gave hydrogen a bad name.Yet when you burn hydrogen in non-zeppelin situations, it is as clean as can be: The byproducts are heat and water.If we use renewable resources like wind and hydropower, geothermal energy and biomass, to free hydrogen atoms from […]

“It’s the most dire situation we’ve seen in over 20 years, ” laments Raymond C. Scheppach, executive director of the National Governors’ Association. He’s talking about the deficit faced by many states.The Washington Post reported last Sunday (Jan. 19) that many Republican governors are proposing tax increases to close the gap and abide by their […]

Jan. 20. Martin Luther King Day.Over at the White House, they’re marking the day by the festive ritual of extending the middle finger to the civil rights establishment. Last week, President Bush came out against a University of Michigan affirmative-action program designed to foster racial diversity on campus. He’s concerned that the policy, which is […]

CAPE BRETON, Canada – Last October, as long-simmering tensions over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program finally erupted into a full-blown crisis, Colin Powell declared: “They have to eliminate the program, give it up, abandon it, destroy it, whatever words you choose, before they can expect the rest of the world to assist them in their […]

Balancingfairnessand priceThe American justice system may once have been rooted in jury trials, but it is now locked to plea bargains. Some prosecutors estimate that more than 90 percent of all criminal cases are bargained away.If defendants are willing to concede guilt and prosecutors willing to back off punishment, plea bargains are considered economic and […]

“We’re going to have to get him on Ritalin,” the doctor said, watching my son toddle around his office.The boy was being a boy, poking around with curiosity at knobs, handles and shiny objects. But instantly, the doctor concluded he was “hyperactive.”Whether the good doctor, a friend, was joking, Mrs. Kirkwood and I never knew. […]

Rep. Christopher O’Neil is right to be concerned about safety of pedestrians and liability of motorists at crosswalks. However, his solution to repeal Maine’s law that requires motorists to yield the right of way to pedestrians in marked crosswalks is backwards and it won’t fix the very thing that concerns him – cars hitting and […]