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June 25, 2008
Pentagon fumbles as war tide shifts
In the practice of ancient Rome, a triumphant general, apt to forget his mortality amid adulation, heard a reminder in cant, uttered by a slave standing over his shoulder: “Look behind. Remember that you are a man.”June 24, 2008
Politics, beliefs inseparable mix
At the height of fervor over an acronym, WWJD, evangelical leftist Tony Campolo asked a pointed question: “Is Jesus a Republican or a Democrat?”June 23, 2008
Cries of ‘crisis’ unconvincing
Children of wise parents soon learn the limited efficacy of stamping feet, wailing in store aisles or turning their faces from ruddy to ashen by holding their breath in an attempt to persuade.June 21, 2008
This week’s opinion marketplace
Three up, three downJune 20, 2008
Ruling grants aid to enemies
A country whose people increasingly dwell in virtual realities is perhaps bound to wonder with Pilate, “What is truth?” or to dismiss as anachronistic the question’s object. This might explain the celebration in some corners over the Supreme Court’s decision to ignore the realities of war.June 19, 2008
At long last, a call to drill
A thumbs-up, thumbs-down assessment of newsmakers here and beyond:June 18, 2008
Housing bailout bears foul aroma
Barack Obama identifies Countrywide Financial as a contagion, which might explain the onset of unsettled stomach in the Illinois senator and economic diagnostician.June 17, 2008
Warriors pay victory’s price
Quietly, America is inching toward success in Iraq. The number of average monthly U.S. deaths has plummeted, sectarian violence has decreased and the Iraqi government appears steadily more capable of independence. The presidential campaign and economic downturn have eclipsed this. So too has a Pyrrhic truth: One more such victory would utterly undo us.June 16, 2008
Ireland’s fight a familiar one
On the unlucky day of Tim Russert’s passing, the words of fellow Irishman and former mentor Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan stirred in the memory: “To be Irish is to know that, in the end, the world will break your heart.”June 14, 2008
Obama’s friends also his enemies
Politics is a game played with associations and agendas, the latter driving the former.June 13, 2008
Russert true giant in TV journalism
In the various circles where the old guard known as print media gather, it is popular to think of television journalism as oxymoronic. Televison provides sound bites, newspapers and other print media provide depth. Or so the thinking goes. Whether it’s the stuff of mere rivalry or something fouler to the smell, that thinking never applied to Tim Russert.June 11, 2008
Choice of Hillary would be clunker
Vanquished but never silent, Hillary Clinton distorts a punch line, amid sulking, pleading to Barack Obama: “Take me as VP, please.”June 10, 2008
Dems produce oil for economic skid
Thank heaven for Democrats. They promised change in gas prices when they took back Congress in 2006, and, by Jove, it happened.Dems produce oil for economic skid
Thank heaven for Democrats. They promised change in gas prices when they took back Congress in 2006, and, by Jove, it happened. The change has been different than the one for which America hoped.June 09, 2008
Care needed in manager search
Quiet in the City Hall cacophony makes more shrill the discordant sounds over the looming departure of the city manager.June 07, 2008
Crime and punishment
Raskolnikov, the protagonist in Dostoevsky’s masterpiece, fancies that he can achieve intellectual superiority by ignoring his own act of gratuitous violence.June 06, 2008
Republicans, take notice
Having slipped beyond the walls of the establishment, Bob Barr resides now in its shadows, in a place known as the fringe, whose primary inhabitants are few and familiar, among them Ralph Nader and, long ago, Lyndon LaRouche.June 05, 2008
Good luck to WHS baseball
A thumbs-up, thumbs-down assessment of newsmakers here and beyond:June 04, 2008
Lofton Lake raises political questions
Amid the tempest over Doug Walker’s looming departure from City Hall emerge bedfellows and politics strangely familiar and curiosity freshly stirred.June 03, 2008
Time for McCain to face opponent
John McCain finally faces the challenge that loomed during six months of opposition party primaries: How to best a foe whose rhetorical skills and ability to energize contrast sharply with his stoically delivered straight talk.June 02, 2008
Warner-Lieberman bill raises concern
Confronting a perceived apocalypse, ecological messiahs John Warner and Joe Lieberman might achieve a crisis.May 31, 2008
Webb would be good VP choice
It is as bad as this for Barack Obama: hopes of injecting a flagging campaign with new energy and muscle have shifted to his selection of a running mate.May 30, 2008
The man Hillary cannot overcome
Lurking in the shadows of inconvenient truths is the familiar form of an erstwhile president whose heart seems to warm to the precise extent that his wife’s anticipation of oval glory cools.May 29, 2008
Heartfelt praise for city garden project
A thumbs-up, thumbs-down assessment of newsmakers here and beyond:May 28, 2008
Walker’s parting breaks the peace
The flickering light of comity on the Waynesboro City Council has been snuffed by a familiar gust of dysfunction, which is neither remarkable nor pernicious except for one whose title has become suddenly transitory.May 27, 2008
Soapbox derby needs welcome
In advance of this weekend’s annual whir of wheels, the discordant hum of selected merchants’ wrath wafts from the economic dust bowl popularly known as downtown. The Blue Ridge Soapbox Derby Classic will take place Saturday in Waynesboro.May 25, 2008
A warrior’s spirit endures unbroken
In the wee-hour darkness, the stocky young colonel stood on an earthen mound gazing into the faces of the 750 warriors before him. “Men,” he said, “I am not a religious man and I don’t know your feelings in this matter, but I am going to ask you to pray with me for the success of the mission before us.May 24, 2008
Wanted: Skilled terrorist trackers
His legacy nibbled to bits by the perpetual occupation of Iraq, President Bush advances toward the respite of political oblivion with the ghosts of obscure but fateful failures on his trail.May 22, 2008
Congress plays the blame game
A thumbs-up, thumbs-down assessment of newsmakers here and beyond:May 21, 2008
