The James Logan Courier

McClatchy-Tribune News Service (MCT)

The following editorial appeared in the Miami Herald on Friday, March 23:

"With his witless comment about gays and morality, Gen. Peter Pace has revived the national debate about the military's misguided "Don't ask, don't tell" policy. This discriminatory policy that forces homosexual men and women soldiers to live a lie never was a good idea. Now, there are more reasons than ever to get rid of it.

Read the U.S. Department of Defense's "faq" on the "Don't Ask,Don't Tell" policy, free from defenselink.mil.

By John Chau, Courier Managing Editor.

On Wednesday, Democrats in Congress stated that in order for President Bush to receive needed funding for the Iraqi conflict, he must accept the majority opposition’s proposed timetable for troop extraction. With $122 billion of funding in question, the president nonetheless holds firm to resist the Democrats’ withdrawal schedule, claiming in a White House excerpt that if troops went unfunded in Iraq, the American people would hold them responsible. The president also claimed that he will not negotiate with Congress, and will veto all withdrawal-related funding bills.

Why, may you ask, would beloved Dubya bite the hands of the policymakers that are offering him an end to this Iraqi war? Until recently, Bush’s approval rating in the nation has been in its abyss. In addition to the drastic drops in consumer confidence, a steady rash of protests and demonstrations have appeared across the nation, the displays showing even in localized, suburban high schools such as James Logan High School.

By Karen Heller
The Philadelphia Inquirer (MCT)

A culture can be defined, in part, by what it consumes. America lists decidedly toward quantity over quality and, increasingly, navigates in the dark waters of the absurd. In this regard, supermarkets are appropriately named. They're bigger than they need be, and devoted largely to marketing rather than food.

Every visit invites new levels of astonishment, revealing an endless mutation of packaging masquerading as sustenance. Why go to the movies to be entertained?

For there, in the snack-food aisle, I stood in a mild state of shock, mouth agape, perplexed, slightly amused as if, unwittingly, I had signed up for a minor walk-on part in some surreal piece of theater, Pirandello perhaps, as I gazed upon the Herr's Philly Cheese Steak Kettle Cooked Potato Chips.

By Sanhita SinhaRoy (MCT)

Equality comes to tennis.

With college basketball brackets on many minds, one major sports announcement was nearly lost: French Open officials recently announced they would award equal prize money to men and women throughout the tennis tournament.

The news is welcome and long overdue. It brings the French Open in line with the other Grand Slams, including Wimbledon, which announced in February it would equalize pay. The U.S. Open introduced it three decades ago and the Australian Open a few years back.

By Michael Goodwin
New York Daily News (MCT)

Surprise, surprise, a bold Democrat finally has told the truth about Iraq, a truth that goes like this: However chaotic it gets, we can't just pack our bags and come home. Even if a Democrat is president, we've got serious business there and "so I think that we will have troops" in Iraq.

Here's the second surprise: The truth-teller was Sen. Hillary Clinton.

By John Chau, Courier managing editor

On Wednesday, the Iranian government issued statements condemning the newest Hollywood smash hit ‘300’, a historical film based on the final struggles between a group of martyred Spartans and the full force of Persian elite troops. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denounced the film as an effort to demonize the Iranians for their nuclear advent. This statement is accompanied by governmental efforts to ban the showing of ‘300’ in the neighboring Muslim nations.

However, on Thursday, Iranian government also announced its dismissal towards any future U.N. sanctions. Despite protests over further nuclear research by moderate parties, President Ahmadinejad claims in a national rally that he regards the U.N. sanctions as ‘torn paper’, and that they will not hamper the nation’s radioactive enrichment. However, according to the U.N. sanction terms obtained by Reuters, in possibly the next week Iranians would be unable to export arms and obtain loans. Individual nuclear missile researcher’s assets would also be frozen.

By John Chau, Courier Managing Editor.

On March 6, the United States began a series of diplomatic talks with North Korea over the latter's nuclear disarmament and the former's humanitarian deliveries. This is the first of visit of North Korea officials on American soil since 2002, when the nation began its nuclear advent.

Let us review our short-term media memories: remember last October, when Kim Jong-Il strutted himself onto the international playground by flashing a pair of underground nukes? Now, as in the Cuban Missile Crisis, the communists fortunately retract their nuclear programs, in exchange for an astronomical amount of supplies.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service (MCT)

The following editorial appeared in the Orlando Sentinel on Friday, March 2:

Congress is under new leadership, but its spending priorities are still out of whack.

With President Bush seeking an additional $100 billion for Iraq, the Democrats now in charge want to pile on $10 billion for unrelated programs and projects. Meanwhile, space-program supporters on Capitol Hill are struggling to make up a $545 million cut in NASA's budget — a cut that could widen the four-year gap between the retirement of the space shuttle and launch of its successor, Orion.

By Rebecca Soltau, Courier Staff Writer

So, I was watching FOX News (like an idiot) and saw that Scooter Libby has been convicted of lying to the court about the outing of secret agent Valerie Plame. I continued watching, (again, like an idiot) and then, as I predicted, I saw that after a lengthy process of 2 1/2 hours, the National Review demanded that President Bush immediately issue a presidential pardon.

Sigh. Unfortunately, I have to agree. President Bush should pardon Libby.

But before you Republicans get all excited and start thinking you’ve converted me to your side (Ray Dequina), I have a completely different reason than you might think.

By Rebecca Soltau, Courier Staff Writer

It has been discovered that Walter Reed Army Medical Center, a hospital specifically for the rehabilitation of soldiers coming home from Iraq and the Middle East, was rapidly falling into disrepair. The severely wounded troops were being housed among rats, mice, mold, cockroaches and rot.

When the Congress finally started to demand something be done (only after the Democrats took it back from the Republicans, mind you), a series of Pentagon and Walter Reed officials expressed surprise and disgust at the conditions that were found in the hospital. They promised that the complaints would be taken care of ASAP.