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Post/View Reader Comments Friday, May 16, 2008 Two regimes, two responses A cyclone in Burma, an earthquake in China — two natural disasters in Asian nations with authoritarian governments. Yet their reaction and response could not be more different. The insular military junta that rules Burma, now renamed Myanmar, has either spurned or severely restricted efforts by international humanitarian agencies and foreign governments to rush aid to the thousands of Burmese struggling to survive in the aftermath of the cyclone 10 days ago. Thursday, May 15, 2008 A skirmish and a harbinger Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton shellacked Sen. Barack Obama in the West Virginia primary Tuesday, but her victory was but a small, successful skirmish in the Democrats' inexorable trench warfare over the presidential nomination. Clinton's win failed to dent Obama's commanding lead in pledged delegates and popular votes. Neither did it stanch the steady drift of superdelegates — Clinton's only hope of salvaging the nomination — to Obama. Indeed Sen. John Edwards, their erstwhile rival whose endorsement both avidly courted, added his support to Obama Wednesday night.
Letters Editor Northern Virginia Daily Wednesday, May 14, 2008 Kaine tries again In a fresh assault on the state's transportation problems, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine on Monday proposed $1.1 billion in new taxes and fees, an idea tax-averse Republicans in the General Assembly promptly and predictably dismissed. The governor marshaled strong arguments for urgently addressing infrastructure needs, especially the traffic congestion in Northern Virginia and Tidewater that hampers business efficiency and frustrates commuters and the bridges nearly 50 years old on average, 8 percent of which need to be replaced now. Less urban areas also need better roads, but state law mandates that construction take a back seat to maintenance. The Commonwealth Transportation Board estimates that shortfalls in transportation revenue will result in a 44 percent reduction in road building over six years. Tuesday, May 13, 2008 Fattening war profits Private contractors have played an outsized role in the Iraq war, handling logistical and support tasks the military itself handled in previous conflicts. The firms have also been paid handsomely for their efforts, often from no-bid contracts necessitated by their singular ability to meet the Pentagon's needs. KBR, by far the largest contractor in Iraq, boasts an estimated $16 billion in contracts, but the company, formerly a division of Halliburton, has boosted its bottom line by hiring workers through shell companies based in the Cayman Islands. The stratagem, which is legal, allows KBR to avoid paying hundreds of millions of dollars in Social Security and Medicare taxes, according to the Boston Globe. Monday, May 12, 2008 Riding without any gas By Chris Fordney — Columnist So we're all having an oil shock, whether it's dropping a C-note into an Expedition's fuel tank or even ringing up $50 just to fill an old Taurus. Thursday, May 8, 2008 Clinton on the ropes Sen. Barack Obama's resurgence — a landslide win in North Carolina and a narrow loss in Indiana — foiled Sen. Hillary Clinton's hopes of rejuvenating her underdog bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Buoyed by her new populist fighter persona, Clinton had been on a roll, aided by Obama's recent rough patch: a primary defeat in Pennsylvania compounded by fallout over incendiary remarks by his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, and Obama's own "elitist" comments. Thursday, May 8, 2008 Letters Editor Northern Virginia Daily Thursday, May 8, 2008 Evolutionary ethics By R.K. Bohm Wednesday, May 7, 2008 Devastation in Burma The toll of dead and missing in Myanmar after the weekend cyclone continues to mount into the tens of thousands. And that's about all the world knows of the disaster because the nation formerly known as Burma is ruled by an insular, brutal military government that prides itself on its isolation. The devastation must be overwhelming, though, because the Burmese government has welcomed international humanitarian aid. That is in contrast to its response to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami when the junta downplayed casualties and stifled relief efforts. Wednesday, May 7, 2008 Letters Editor Northern Virginia Daily Tuesday, May 6, 2008 Frayed safety net The number of Americans who lack health insurance has grown to 47 million, 16 percent of the population, partly because companies have trimmed coverage in the face of rising insurance costs. But the ranks of the uninsured are likely to be further swollen by the economic downturn, which not only strips the jobless of insurance but also forces many of those still employed to make painful choices about managing crimped family finances. A poll by the Kaiser Foundation found that nearly three in 10 respondents had trouble paying for health care or insurance and nearly a quarter had stayed with a job or switched primarily because of health benefits. Monday, May 5, 2008 A mixed economic bag Although the economy shed jobs for the fourth consecutive month, the 20,000 jobs lost in April were a relatively modest hit — 81,000 disappeared in March — sparking hope that the economic downturn may not be so severe or long-lasting. That the unemployment rate ticked down to 5 is also encouraging, although that figure excludes people who have given up looking for work or who are working part-time because they can't find full-time jobs. Those "discouraged" workers swelled to 412,000 in April from 399,000 a year ago. Monday, May 5, 2008 Letters Editor Northern Virginia Daily Saturday, May 3, 2008 Gas-tax pandering Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain have found something they can agree on: a summer moratorium on the federal gasoline excise tax. Both Clinton, the Democratic presidential contender, and McCain, the apparent GOP nominee, have rushed to embrace the idea, which they think will resonate with voter-drivers contending with record-high gas prices, which are likely to spike further during the vacation season. Friday, May 2, 2008 A Winchester gem restored This year's Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival is remarkable not only for the usual impressive slate of celebrities, events and its volunteer-driven organizational prowess but also for the concurrent opening of the renovated George Washington Hotel, once the social and entertainment center of Winchester. The hotel, which held its ribbon-cutting Wednesday, had been vacant for more than a decade, and before that served a number of interim uses, from the temporary location of Grand Piano & Furniture after its store burned down, to a home for mentally disadvantaged residents when it was the George Washington Home for Adults. Thursday, May 1, 2008 Fed balancing act Faced with fresh evidence of a weakened economy, the Federal Reserve Board cut short-term interest rates a quarter point on Wednesday. The move, the Fed's seventh cut in seven months, reflects the board's continuing concern over declines in consumer spending, housing prices and business investment and increases in unemployment. |
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