Opinion
The race race
Apoplectic panic! It is spreading and intensifying throughout the once smug and snarky Republican faithful, and that has provided the most entertaining part of this toolong election season. - Friday, August 29, 2008
Think Twice
Some seven days ago, the Fayetteville School District Board of Education seemingly had its hat handed to its members in surprising and somewhat embarrassing fashion. The University of Arkansas, potential buyer of the high school’s 40-acre campus, took its $50 million-and-not-acent-more offer off the table. - Friday, August 29, 2008
LETTERS
POA needs to go away The Bella Vista Property Owners Association Board of Directors is struggling to maintain credibility for its continued existence. Just look at the many recreational proposals board members talk about — dog parks, walking trails, new buildings for physical fitness and other recreational enhancements. - Friday, August 29, 2008
Shield Needed
A federal shield law for journalists has become essential in this era of trolling prosecutors and civil lawyers looking for shortcuts to make their cases. - Friday, August 29, 2008
EDITORIALS : At All Costs
As the twin towers fell from the heavens seven years ago this September, Americans around the world could feel the proverbial gloves coming off the federal government. - Thursday, August 28, 2008
LETTERS
Likes the golf coverage Just a short note to say “thank you” for your coverage of the Rogers Mountie golf team. Without your staff and paper, these wonderful young men and women would get little, if any, recognition for the hundreds of hours they put in for the sake of their game. - Thursday, August 28, 2008
Foreign Affairs : A biblical seven years
THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
After attending the spectacular closing ceremony at the Beijing Olympics and feeling the vibrations from hundreds of Chinese drummers pulsating in my own chest, I was tempted to conclude two things: “Holy mackerel, the energy coming out of this country is unrivaled.” And, two: “We are so cooked. Start teaching your kids Mandarin.” However, I’ve learned over the years not to over-interpret any two-week event. Olympics don’t change history. They are mere snapshots — a country posing in its Sunday bests for all the world to see. But, as snapshots go, the one China presented through the Olympics was enormously powerful — and it’s one that Americans need to reflect upon this election season. - Thursday, August 28, 2008
Iraqi Money
When it comes to American taxpayer dollars, Iraq is a sieve. - Thursday, August 28, 2008
EDITORIALS : Devils and Details
Money transferred hands on Monday when Washington County officials finalized an agreement to take control of the Terminella Building (which sits across the street and just south of the Washington County Courthouse) for $4.5 million. - Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Pica Pole : Lite? I don’t think so
KENT MARTS
A note from a subscriber arrived in the e-mail in-box Tuesday morning. - Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Not Our Fight
John McCain and Barack Obama disagree on many things, but in response to Russia’s invasion of Georgia, they were of one mind about what the United States should do: Redouble efforts to bring Georgia into NATO. - Wednesday, August 27, 2008
EDITORIALS : A Price Hike
Get ready for another round of airfare price hikes, compliments of U.S. - Tuesday, August 26, 2008
LETTERS
Not impressed by Square work I am disappointed to see what the end results are for the current phase of the restoration process taking place on the Bentonville Square, specifically regarding the streets around the Square. I would have never thought someone would have such bad taste to use the materials they have and leave the streets as they are. I thought the job wasn’t finished and there was more to come, but to my sadness, I was wrong. - Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Liberties : Too much of a bad thing
MAUREEN DOWD
WASHINGTON — My mom did not approve of men who cheated on their wives. She called them “longtailed rats.” During the 2000 race, she listened to news reports about John McCain confessing to dalliances that caused his first marriage to fall apart after he came back from his stint as a POW in Vietnam. - Tuesday, August 26, 2008
The Dead Zone
Scientists, the fishing industry and the media in this country have reported extensively on the huge dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. In 2006, it covered almost 6,700 square miles. Last year, it reached nearly 8,000 square miles, one of the largest in history. This year, researchers say it could grow to 10,084 — the largest in almost a quarter-century. - Tuesday, August 26, 2008
They Don’t Belong
A few years back, the public was treated to a widely published photo showing the icky results of a python’s ill-advised attempt to eat a 6-foot alligator in the Florida Everglades. - Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Guest Columnist : Arkansans need better energy choices
BOB APPLE
President Bush said it best: America is addicted to oil. We currently spend more than $1 trillion a year on our fossil fuel addiction, and if we are to believe the rhetoric of Big Oil, the answer to kicking the habit is to drill for more. - Monday, August 25, 2008
The New York Times : The Denver Accords
GAIL COLLINS
Crises abound in our troubled world, but think positive. At least it appears that peace has come to the Democratic Party. - Sunday, August 24, 2008
Reckonings : It’s the economy stupor
PAUL KRUGMAN
By rights, John McCain should be getting hammered on economics. - Sunday, August 24, 2008
LETTERS
Big changes in immigration laws needed now The U.S. census makes some interesting predictions: Whites will be in the minority in the U.S. by 2042, eight years earlier than previously predicted, and Hispanics (15 percent of the population now) will account for 30 percent in 2050. - Sunday, August 24, 2008
The Wild Side : Testing genes, solving little
OLIVIA JUDSON
LONDON — It was supposed to be simple. Once it became cheap to scan large numbers of people for large numbers of genetic differences, everyone assumed that it would swiftly become straightforward to convert genetic differences into physical differences — that we’d be able to look at someone’s genome and say, this man is between 5 feet 10 inches and 6 feet 2 inches, has black hair, green eyes and a high risk of developing diabetes. - Sunday, August 24, 2008
Right Turn : Rainy nights in Georgia
CAL THOMAS
Russia’s invasion of Georgia on the pretext of “protecting” Russian peacekeepers stationed in the separatist enclave of South Ossetia and ending the “ethnic cleansing” of native Russians living there is a sobering reminder that the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was not a sign that old-line communists were ready to walk the sawdust trail of repentance and convert to capitalism, democracy, human rights and religious freedom. Quite the contrary. - Sunday, August 24, 2008
A Catholic case against Barack
PAT BUCHANAN
In the Pennsylvania primary, Barack Obama rolled up more than 90 percent of the African-American vote. Among Catholics, he lost by 40 points. The cool liberal Harvard Law grad was not a good fit for the socially conservative ethnics of Altoona, Aliquippa and Johnstown. - Saturday, August 23, 2008
TALL HUMBS
Appearing each Saturday, “All Thumbs” is The Benton County Daily Record’s take on the people, events and issues deserving a “thumbs up” for a noteworthy accomplishment or good deed or a “thumbs down” for magnificent failure or just general stupidity. Thumbs down to the Rogers City Council candidates who continue to pledge only to continue what the city has been doing. While there is nothing wrong with where the city is and how it got there, the improvements of the last few years were not accomplished through a more-of-the-same attitude. If Rogers is as good as it is going to get, then that attitude is sufficient; but if the city is going to improve as it has, then it is time for someone to offer up an idea that is anything but more of the same. - Saturday, August 23, 2008
LETTERS
Be discerning The Bible calls us sheep. In Matthew 7:15, we are admonished to “beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” But nowhere are we told to turn our backs on, and walk away from, the Shepherd. In John 10:11 Jesus says, “I am the good Shepherd; the good Shepherd lays down His life for His sheep.” Therein lies the difference. - Saturday, August 23, 2008
EDITORIALS : Still Waiting
When it comes to the law, there are offenses that are wrong only in the technical, legal sense, such as driving 61 mph in a 55 mph zone. The law sets a standard, and one either complies or doesn’t, but there are no further moral implications to the basic act of disobedience. - Friday, August 22, 2008
LETTERS
Our fault I read the letter by Lee Van Allen and shook my head. I probably have more, or at least as much, influence on the oil market as President George W. Bush does. Someone may want to advise him that oil is traded on the stock market and the president is persona non grata in that arena. - Friday, August 22, 2008
Liberally Biased : Russia pushes back
TONY RED
Understand, I do not condone Russia’s use of overwhelming military force to pummel small weak nations anymore than I do that of the United States of America. Since war broke out between Russia and Georgia, I’ve felt like I have time-warped back into the Cold War era of my youth. The big bad Russian Bear, we hear, is bullying tiny, angelic Georgia. - Friday, August 22, 2008
Turkey’s Trouble
In the last few weeks, Turkey has been in a constant condition of tension. - Friday, August 22, 2008