editorials

Aug. 31 -- A foreign aid program that's worth a look (ARN Editorial): When Congress resumes in September, many top-drawer issues will compete for attention: Social Security, tax cuts, managed health care and, of course, the findings of special prosecutor Kenneth Starr, which could lead to the major disruption of impeachment proceedings.

Aug. 31 -- Consumer protection? Take it, please (Molly Ivins): AUSTIN - What the people of this country really need is a truth-in-legislative-packaging law. Take the National Motor Vehicle Safety, Anti-Theft, Title Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Please take it. Away.

Aug. 31 -- Priest blasts a 'morally squishy' public (Cal Thomas): The guest on the Rev. Jesse Jackson's CNN television show Aug. 22 was Rev. Jerry Falwell. Jackson, who regularly bashed Presidents Reagan and Bush for their foreign and domestic policies, and Falwell, who defended those Republican presidents, again found themselves on opposite sides.

Aug. 30 -- Policy on Iraq now looks less than consistent (ARN Editorial): In retrospect, the best solution might have been for the Desert Storm troops to have kept on going until Saddam Hussein was run out of Baghdad. At the time, that did not seem an option. The United Nations resolution limited the war aims to the liberation of Kuwait, and our Arab allies might have balked at the overthrow of a fellow autocrat.

Aug. 30 -- Censure might let Clinton atone (Ann McFeatters): WASHINGTON -- The flavor of the week, with reference to how President Clinton is to atone for the sins of his libido, is an official censure from Congress.

Aug. 30 -- Stick shift, other options, disappearing (Dale McFeatters): What with the cell phone, the commuter cup, the sound system with 200 tiny, tiny controls, the drive-thru breakfast and the need to gesture to fellow motorists, it's asking a lot of the modern driver just to steer the car, let alone shift gears.

Aug. 30 -- The time we lit up the skies across Texas (Sharon Randall): We met 30 years ago. I awoke one morning in a strange bed to find him standing over me, grinning, with a wooden hammer poised and ready to whack me on my head.

Aug. 29 -- Impeachment issue may hurt ability to govern (ARN Editorial): It was almost as if Newt Gingrich were trying to buck up the president the other day when he said "a single human mistake" was insufficient for impeachment, that there would need to be "an overpowering case" of "a pattern of felonies" and that the presumption should not only be one of innocence, but of the nation's need for authority and stability.

Aug. 29 -- GOP can't duck on Scandal No. 2 (Morton Kondracke): Republicans can criticize Democrats freely in Scandal No. 1, the White House sexcapades, but not Scandal No. 2, the campaign finance mess.

Aug. 29 -- Thrills? Glamor? After lunch, please (Bob Greene): SEYMOUR, WIS. -- For some reason -- one I'm not entirely enthusiastic about exploring too deeply -- my life, which I once foresaw as being filled with nonstop thrills and sparkling glamor, seems to be devolving into an endless series of visits to small-town storefront museums.

Aug. 29 -- No shield to tawdry story for Chelsea (Rheta Grimsley Johnson): Without any trouble, I can remember every item on top of the ugly metal chest of drawers in the dormitory room my freshman year at Auburn. There was a jewelry box with no jewels, a photograph of my boyfriend, a spray bottle of Heaven Scent perfume and a tall, milky vase holding crepe paper roses with pipe cleaner stems.

Aug. 28 -- Court should squash GOP's suit on census (ARN Editorial): The debate over how to conduct the national census in 2000 is a rich mixture of high principle and low politics. With time running out, a federal appeals court took a decisive step to cut short that debate by ruling unanimously that the Census Bureau cannot use statistical sampling to round out the national headcount.

Aug. 28 -- Throwing the last pitch (ARN Editorial): If you've let the entire summer pass without going to see Abilene's own baseball team play, this weekend is your last chance.

Aug. 28 -- Centrists hold key to Clinton's fate: DALLAS - It is hard to know exactly where Bill Clinton's crippled presidency heads next. But here is one clue: watch Congress' moderate Republicans and centrist Democrats. Along with public opinion polls, they could determine Clinton's fate.

Aug. 28 -- Consistency needed against terrorism (Linda Chavez): Is President Clinton really serious about declaring war on terrorism, or is his administration once again sending mixed signals to despots and terrorists?

Aug. 27 -- New employer raises issue of workforce size (ARN Editorial): Tuesday's announcement that The Colonel's International Inc. will open a manufacturing facility in Abilene as early as January at the old Aileen's site and employ hundreds of workers - perhaps up to 500 after four years - is certainly good news to stand up and applaud.

Aug. 27 -- Liberal calls on the president to resign (Bonnie Erbe): Mr. President, you have outlived your welcome and your usefulness to progressive causes. It's time for you to step down. If you do not, you can rest assured you will only bring mountains of continued disgrace on the people who have supported you and stood by you in the past.

Aug. 27 -- Good cheer through a mad season (Molly Ivins): AUSTIN - Strange peaches. There we were, trying to decide whether to can the president for having a frisky sex life and lying about it, when we were rudely interrupted by some clear thinkers who felt their grievances entitled them to kill about 250 Kenyans and maim another 5,000 in an effort to annoy us.

Aug. 26 -- Moderate tax hike needed for juvenile facility (ARN Editorial): In commenting on Taylor County commissioners' proposal to raise homeowner's taxes by 8 percent, an editorial in the Abilene Reporter-News on Sunday erroneously said commissioners had used fund reserves to pay for capital improvements in the past, thus holding back inevitable tax increases.

Aug. 26 -- Getting tangled in Afghan web: DUSHANBE, Tajikstan - U.S. citizens must sooner or later face the fact that the bombings of our embassies in Tanzania and Kenya were brought about in part by the muddled actions of our own government.

Aug. 26 -- Spreading the news without pastepots (Bob Greene): DETROIT - With all the noise and turmoil that has rolled through the newspaper business this summer, the fact that the Detroit Free Press moved to a different building would seem to be a small item, hardly worth mentioning.

Aug. 25 -- Korea may be greatest threat to our security (ARN Editorial): For much of his presidency, when his credibility seemed in reasonable repair and no scandal clearly threatened his attentiveness, President Clinton was blessed with quietude in foreign affairs.

Aug. 25 -- Annual Equal Rites Awards bestowed (Ellen Goodman): BOSTON - As August 26th approaches, our awards committee faces its task in a rather ambivalent spirit. The annual Equal Rites Awards ceremony, held in honor of our foremothers who won the right to vote on this day, has always been an occasion for taking stock.

Aug. 25 -- Defining what impeachment covers (George Will): WASHINGTON - Rahm Emanuel is one of those windup dolls the president has been sending forth for seven months to deny the obvious. ("Did he have sex? No. Sexual relations? No.") But Emanuel is magnanimous: "I'm not owed an apology."

Aug. 24 -- Judges put out FDA's powers over cigarettes (ARN Editorial): A federal appeals panel has in effect said Congress never, not even in its wildest imaginings, meant for laws it passed to grant the Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate tobacco as a dangerous drug. And for decades, the FDA agreed.

Aug. 24 -- The ties that bind (ARN Editorial): If Hillary Clinton doesn't flush them down the White House toilet first, those six ties Monica Lewinsky gave President Clinton will make great items at a charity auction.

Aug. 24 -- Thanks we owe the phone company (Molly Ivins): AUSTIN - Helpful hint for newsies suicidal at the thought of Life Without Monica: Consider the phone company.

Aug. 24 -- Big government grabs for the crabs (Cal Thomas): A federal judge in Miami has declared Joe's Stone Crab restaurant guilty of sex discrimination for not hiring an arbitrary number of female servers dictated by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Aug. 23 -- Tax hikes call for individual examination (ARN Editorial): Abilene taxpayers must feel they’re in the middle of an intersection with three truckloads of tax hikes barreling down on them from different directions and wonder why this is all happening at once.

Aug. 23 -- ‘Wag the Dog?' Let's get real now: WASHINGTON -- It was surreal. Before Bill Clinton walked into the gym of the Edgartown, Mass., school to announce his strike on terrorists, reporters had been watching "Wag the Dog."

Aug. 23 -- Fast Track, U.N. deserve opposition (Rudy Izzard): Last Sunday, Mr. Dick Tarpley, retired editor of the Abilene Reporter-News, wrote a guest column in which he was highly critical of my position on two issues. He further used his column to insinuate that I am an out-of-touch extremist.

Aug. 23 -- Clinton needs to learn how to say ‘I'm sorry' (Sharon Randall): We were sick and tired of the whole ugly mess. We wanted to put it behind us, take a long, hot national shower and move on to real issues, terrorist bombings or global warming or where to get a good non-fat decaf latte.

Aug. 22 -- City welcomes college crowd back to town (ARN Editorial): Abilene's population is swelling like a balloon this weekend, as thousands of out-of-town college students arrive to begin classes Monday at Abilene Christian, Hardin-Simmons and McMurry universities. For those returning from summer jobs and vacations, we welcome you back. And to the newcomers, we're glad you've chosen to pursue your goals of higher learning in Abilene.

Aug. 22 -- '98 football kickoff: It's just about time to ask, Are you ready for some football? The Big Country is almost ready to turn on those Friday night lights and commence another exciting season of high school football. And for just that reason, the Abilene Reporter-News sports staff has spent hundreds of hours assembling this year's annual football tab.

Aug. 22 -- Ken Starr wins in 'get the president' (Donald Kaul): So it was a lame speech. What did you expect, Jimmy Swaggart? That's not the president's style.

Aug. 22 -- A president who can't say he's sorry (Martin Schram): Our incorrigibly immature son comes out from his room, saying that after seven months he is finally ready to tell us the truth about what he has done.

Aug. 21 -- Dyess airshow says thank you in B-1 big way (ARN Editorial): The Dyess Air Force Base Big Country Appreciation Day airshow stands out as one of the area's most shining occasions each year. No matter how long we've lived here, we never tire of witnessing first hand exactly why the United States Air Force is the world's most respected air power and why Dyess is right at the heart of that mission.

Aug. 21 -- Standing by her man ... on her own (Ellen Goodman): BOSTON - So it comes down to Bill and Hillary, man and wife, president and first lady, father and mother.

Aug. 21 -- Impeachment should move forward (George Will): WASHINGTON - Eaten to a honeycomb by corruption, Bill Clinton's presidency effectively ended with his defiantly eccentric claim that his lying in the judicial process about sex in the White House was all a matter of his private life.

Aug. 20 -- Bush's plan to help youth is right approach (ARN Editorial): Whether we have children at home, we're concerned about the future of the young people of Texas. We want them to grow up to be healthy, productive members of society, not violent criminals and drug addicts who endanger public safety and drain tax money.

Aug. 20 -- News from that other war on drugs (Molly Ivins): AUSTIN - Fresh news from the front line of the Drug War! No, not that drug war - the other drug war, the drug war between the brand-name pharmaceutical companies and the generic-drug manufacturers.

Aug. 20 -- Clinton has been a serial liar all his life (Cal Thomas): Compared to other recent high-profile apologies - Jimmy Swaggart's "I have sinned" and Ted Kennedy's owning up to a lifetime of spring-break fever - President Clinton's nationally televised statement Monday night fell short. It didn't even qualify as an apology.

Aug. 19 -- Clinton's plea falls short of full contrition (ARN Editorial): As so often before, in his televised speech Monday night, President Clinton seemed politically brilliant, a master of mass psychology. He admitted fault but stressed the sympathy-seeking theme of personal and family privacy, actually confessed little and did that only in terminology that was grossly understated.

Aug. 19 -- How America lost its moral compass (Linda Chavez): If ever the story is written of how America came to lose its moral compass, this week's grand jury testimony by President Clinton will mark the final turning point.

Aug. 19 -- Rich and famous get new neighbors (Bob Greene): REYNOLDSBURG, OHIO - The Lucky 13 - that would be the 13 factory workers, all men, who won the $295.7 million prize in the Powerball lottery this summer - have been doing their best to lie low and presumably to figure out how they will deal with being suddenly, staggeringly rich.

Aug. 18 -- Too many are just too busy for democracy (ARN Editorial): Give 3.5 million Americans credit for honesty. They told the Census Bureau the reason they didn't vote in the last election was that they didn't care about the outcome. Fair enough. Americans have the right not to vote.

Aug. 18 -- A lesson in diplomacy (ARN Editorial): We don't report this development with any sense of malicious glee. But consider:

Aug. 18 -- Filipino veterans deserve recognition (George Will): SAN DIEGO -- Casiano Santos was among the lucky ones. On April 9, 1942, U.S. forces on the Bataan peninsula and their Filipino allies, including Santos, surrendered to Japanese forces, and the Death March began. Santos, a Filipino inducted into the U.S. Army 17 days after Pearl Harbor, escaped from the march on April 14.

Aug. 18 -- Leave Law definitely a small change (Ellen Goodman): BOSTON -- Forgive me for sounding a tad ungrateful. After all, the citizens of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts have just been granted a Small Necessities Leave. I should be part of the cheering squad.

Aug. 17 -- Poor students find college opportunities (ARN Editorial): A study commissioned by the U.S. Education Department is interesting and worth noting, but could easily lend itself to misinterpretation by those giving the results a cursory glance or people with a political purpose.

Aug. 17 -- True blue in Hawaii (ARN Editorial): While Honolulu was celebrating - or lamenting - its recent designation as the American city with the second highest home prices (median: $305,000), several thousand Hawaiians were marking a different occasion: the 100th anniversary of the islands' annexation by the United States.

Aug. 17 -- Global warming and the heat wave (Molly Ivins): AUSTIN - As Texas endures the slow, agonizing death of our entire agricultural sector by drought, a check of our media and political leaders shows we are also suffering from a bizarre silence on a topic that could be described as "the cause that dare not speak its name."

Aug. 17 -- A short history of lying under oath (Cal Thomas): Quietly and without public comment, the House Judiciary Committee is preparing for possible impeachment hearings in case Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr delivers a report detailing offenses by President Clinton that warrant such action.

Aug. 16 -- Best way for Abilene to take care of its own (ARN Editorial): The United Way of Abilene has set a lofty mark for its fund-raising campaign, but it's one that's certainly worth achieving.

Aug. 16 -- Foreign policy not victim of Monica (Ann McFeatters): WASHINGTON -- There's something far uglier going on in Washington than the debate over Monica's dress.

Aug. 16 -- Sometimes the nest just gets too full (Dale McFeatters): The parental emotional perils of "empty nest syndrome" are well-documented, the sadness and family realignment that take place when one or more kids leave home.

Aug. 16 -- Reliving her father's war to save the world (Sharon Randall): Once upon a time there was a war ...

Aug. 15 -- A do-nothing Congress can still do good (ARN Editorial): Congress has skipped Washington for a month's hiatus, causing critics to croak that nothing has been done in this year of a slate-thin, self-conflicted GOP majority, divided government and a scandal-wounded, clout-deprived president. Considering what was on the agenda, though, the relative inaction should occasion a nationwide sigh of relief.

Aug. 15 -- Perry Mason meets Monica and Bill (Martin Schram): As America's most historic case of trappings of power creeps toward the president's day of grand jury reckoning, the news media have dished virtually every scenario of how the future of Bill Clinton's presidency may hinge on the FBI testing of Monica Lewinsky's dress.

Aug. 15 -- A man who went flying into history (Bob Greene): COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The air museum was just across a little roadway from my hotel, so I walked over one recent morning.

Aug. 14 -- County should pay its share to support arts (ARN Editorial): Art is a broadening experience. It is not mere entertainment, though it entertains. It delights by instructing - by pointing to new horizons within ourselves and to the larger world outside, by refreshing and invigorating our inner lives in ways that are every bit as necessary as meat and drink to our continued growth as fully developed human beings.

Aug. 14 -- Medical trust shaky in cyberspace (Ellen Goodman): BOSTON - Start with the basic scenario. You are sitting in the doctor's office, dressed in one of those charming johnnies that open ever so attractively at the back.

Aug. 14 -- Where's Perot when you need him? The GOP-led House of Representatives wants to use a substantial part of the $1.6 trillion budget surplus predicted for the next 10 years to cut taxes. Representatives will be making their case for their tax reductions in town hall meetings this month.

Aug. 13 -- Plans at Dyess promise hope in tough times (ARN Editorial): This week's announcement by U.S. Rep. Charles Stenholm's office that the activation of a third B-1 squadron at Dyess Air Force Base is back on schedule would be great news even in soaring economic conditions. During the Abilene area's current economic downturn, the word from Washington is like a godsend.

Aug. 13 -- An occasion of fashion (ARN Editorial): Artwalk takes a fashionable turn this August evening, as artists and participants deck themselves out in a variety of costumes and ensembles to demonstrate the role fashion has played in art through the ages and the role art has played in fashion.

Aug. 13 -- Rylander just keeps on annoying (Molly Ivins): AUSTIN - There's something about Carole Keeton Rylander. ... After some thought, I conclude it is that she's ... just ... so ... annoying. It's annoying even to have to think about her.

Aug. 13 -- Half-truths and anything but the truth (Cal Thomas): As President Clinton prepares to testify before a grand jury Monday, his dwindling number of true-believer supporters have been reduced to speaking absurdities.

Aug. 12 -- School safety paramount as session begins (ARN Editorial): If you're getting ready to start school in Abilene, you're already late. Wylie schools begin today, and many Big Country schools won't start until Monday. But opening bells rang Tuesday to commence AISD's new fall term.

Aug. 12 -- The temporarily poor (ARN Editorial): A new Census Bureau study paints a portrait of American poverty that is both distressing and heartening.

Aug. 12 -- Failure of see no evil, hear no evil (Linda Chavez): Last week, the House committee investigating illegal campaign contributions voted along strict party lines to cite Attorney General Janet Reno for contempt of Congress.

Aug. 12 -- Requiem for a salesman of sunshine (Bob Greene): I was a young newspaper columnist in Chicago, just getting started, really; Jack Brickhouse was one of the most famous men in town, the voice of the Cubs, the voice of the Bears. We went out one night.

Aug. 11 -- U.S. must be patient dealing with terrorism (ARN Editorial): The United States' best tool in countering terrorism, like the bombings of the two U.S. embassies in Africa, may be the hardest in a nation that regularly demands quick results: patience.

Aug. 11 -- He still doesn't get it (ARN Editorial): Despite the mixed metaphor, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was on target when she observed, "Basically, Saddam Hussein has wrestled himself to the ground. He is stuck in a box, and he's thrown away the key."

Aug. 11 -- Cringing arguments defend religion (George Will): WASHINGTON -- The constitutional crisis began 66 years ago in North Carolina, but no one noticed. However, recently Richard Suhre (rhymes with surly) went ballistic and to court.

Aug. 11 -- Just who do the girls belong to now? (Ellen Goodman): BOSTON -- The irony is that it all began as a plea for child support. Paula Johnson took her ex-boyfriend Carlton Conley to court in search of more money for 3-year-old Callie Marie.

Aug. 10 -- Clinton's testimony could affect rest of term (ARN Editorial): Monica Lewinsky has testified, and pretty soon it will be President Clinton's turn.

Aug. 10 -- Idaho solons make ours look good (Molly Ivins): AUSTIN -- The ineffable Dan Burton, chair of yet another committee out to get President Clinton, has issued a citation of contempt against Attorney General Janet Reno for failing to provide confidential documents concerning her investigation of 1996 campaign-finance scandals. You will be happy to learn that Burton last week voted against the Shays-Meehan bill to fix the worst of the problems in campaign financing.

Aug. 10 -- Coolidge was president with integrity (Cal Thomas): PLYMOUTH NOTCH, Vt. -- Seventy-five years ago in the pre-dawn hours of Aug. 3, following the death of Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as president of the United States by his father, a notary public, on the tiny family farm.

Aug. 9 -- Terrorists must be brought to justice (ARN Editorial): The terrorists responsible for the fatal bombings at U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania must be found and brought to justice, as President Clinton immediately vowed.

Aug. 9 -- Fans, heal yourselves (ARN Editorial): Sports fans complain to the point of exhaustion about overpaid players, greedy owners and other supposed abuses of their loyalty, but, as a Scripps Howard News Service series that appears in today's Sports section, beginning on Page 1D, makes clear, they are more nearly part of the problem than they are of the solution.

Aug. 9 -- Marriage may be making a comeback: Marriage may be regaining some of its lost cachet, and for very practical reasons.

Aug. 9 -- America gets tough on criminals (Joseph Spear): Every year, the Justice Department releases figures on the nation's prison population, and they invariably set off a gnashing of teeth in liberal circles about the injustice of it all.

Aug. 9 -- The place is a mess, and family's on the way (Sharon Randall): After a month away, I came home to what my mother would call a godawful mess.

Aug. 8 -- Compromise needed in House-Reno stalemate (ARN Editorial): There really ought to be a compromise, and fairly soon, between Attorney General Janet Reno and the House subcommittee that has charged her with contempt of Congress.

Aug. 8 -- Director's D-Day frighteningly real (Donald Kaul): Your average summer movie blows up things: warehouses, skyscrapers, the White House, whatever. Who has not thrilled to the trailer showing the hero leaping straight at you while the building in back of him explodes into clouds of flame? It's all in good fun; nobody gets hurt.

Aug. 8 -- Unpretentious charmer's craft recognized (Rheta Grimsley Johnson): Every now and then in this business you meet someone and know it won't be the last time you'll hear about him.

Aug. 7 -- GM's plans show ability to adjust (ARN Editorial): General Motors is the nation's high-cost producer of automobiles, the company's profits are minimal, and it can't go on that way. That's why GM has announced plans to reduce its work force, sell off a cumbersome subsidiary, smooth out a number of bureaucratic wrinkles and build a series of modernized plants.

Aug. 7 -- Breast cancer advance (ARN Editorial): Scientists keep researching ways to fight the disease, and breast cancer -- though still a terrible and sometimes deadly reality -- keeps losing ground.

Aug. 7 -- Airlines responsible for civility loss (Ellen Goodman): BOSTON--Ever since it was discovered that Russell Weston Jr., the man charged with the Capitol murders, had a cabin in Rimini, Mont., we have been subject to yet another round of stories, titled loosely: There's something about Montana.

Aug. 7 -- Clinton's punishment already fits crime (George Will): WASHINGTON--Neither good taste nor public-spiritedness mars the nearly perfect seaminess to which President Clinton's self-indulgence and self-absorption have reduced the national conversation. However, this is almost sublime: His grand jury testimony is scheduled for Aug. 17, fifty years to the day after a riveting moment in another perjury drama.

Aug. 6 -- Stocks decline not indicator economy's best days over (ARN Editorial): The economy, some people have clearly felt, has been almost too good to be true. And maybe its vim and vigor won't be true much longer, some experts were speculating the other day after the Dow Jones Industrial Average took a spill, declining by 299.43 points or 3.4 percent.

Aug. 6 -- Danger in Kashmir (ARN Editorial): Kashmir, in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, is a place of dramatic Himalayan mountains, lovely valleys and incessant bloodshed.

Aug. 6 -- Telling the truth will set Clinton free (Morton Kondracke): Not only is it vital that President Clinton tell the truth about the Monica Lewinsky case to avoid impeachment, but polls indicate that he can survive the ordeal politically.

Aug. 6 -- Role models will be hard to replace (Cal Thomas): What do the following have in common, besides their having died this year: Shari Lewis, Roy Rogers, "Buffalo Bob" Smith, Alan Shepard, Robert Young and Jerome Robbins? The answer is they all contributed something worthy of our approval, praise and emulation.

Aug. 5 -- Rehnquist cuts off evasion attempt (ARN Editorial): Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist wasted no time and abided no hokum in refusing to let Bruce Lindsey evade prosecutors who want to interrogate him in the Monica Lewinsky case.

Aug. 5 -- Lewis will be missed (ARN Editorial): About five years ago Shari Lewis had finished her testimony before Congress and it was now Lamb Chop's turn.

Aug. 5 -- Americans can't avoid truth forever (Linda Chavez): "This episode is sorry, and it is sordid, and it has brought down not only our government and the head of our government, but the whole country." With those few words uttered on a Sunday talk show, Sen. Joseph Lieberman described perfectly why so many Americans don't want to think about what happened between President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky.

Aug. 5 -- What comes after a world with no limits? (Bob Greene): There was never a censor -- never one specific person who, on a national basis, determined what American citizens should and should not see and hear.

Aug. 4 -- President’s disgraces numerous (ARN Editorial): A number of people are urging the president to tell the truth about what looks like an affair with a White House intern, not so much on the worthy principle that the nation’s top elected official should embrace honesty, but because they think a public confession would make the mess go away.

Aug. 4 -- Witnessing an entire cycle of life (Ellen Goodman): CASCO BAY, Maine -- The phoebes have taken flight.

Aug. 4 -- Election to have national impact (George Will): SAN DIEGO--California's gubernatorial race, a contest between two utility infielders in politics, may reverberate as much on Capitol Hill as in California. One of the winner's most important acts, which will be performed in the last half of his term, will be to shape the redistricting based on the 2000 census.

Aug. 3 -- Memorable words on race from Thomas (ARN Editorial): It's an absurdity and an outrage to think that someone's point of view should be dictated by the color of his skin, but Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been repeatedly confronted with that essentially racist notion.

Aug. 3 -- The horror show continues (Molly Ivins): AUSTIN -- When last I wrote an entire column about the Monica Lewinsky affair, which I am proud to say was more than six months ago, Washington had reached such an advanced state of tizz that one yearned for trite old Rudyard Kipling's manly man -- the one who kept his head when all about him were losing theirs.

Aug. 3 -- Just a puppet on strings (ARN Editorial): Buffalo Bob Smith, the creator of Howdy Doody and the pioneer TV show named after the puppet, has died at the age of 80, reminding us just what a relatively new phenomenon television is and how blessedly innocent it was in the early days.

Aug. 3 -- More sex please, we're British (Cal Thomas): LONDON -- Britain has sometimes fancied itself behind the Untied States in some important categories.

Aug. 2 -- Wages of free enterprise deserve salute (ARN Editorial): Wages and benefits increased 3.5 percent over the past 12 months, a rate more rapid than any seen over the past five years.

Aug. 2 -- Why FBI keeps so many files closed (Joseph Spear): It appears there is something Bill Clinton didn't tell us three years ago when he ordered the automatic declassification of government secrets that were more than 25 years old.

Aug. 2 -- Oh, no! It's attack ad season: WASHINGTON -- "A blow-dried bellhop to the rich."

Aug. 2 -- How reading can change your child (Sharon Randall): Mine was no storybook childhood -- except that summer when I fell in love with Rhett Butler and Brer Rabbit.

Aug. 1 -- Testimony points toward a conclusion (ARN Editorial): Seven months after the news broke of a possible presidential affair with a White House intern, this sordid little drama is drawing to a merciful close.

Aug. 1 -- Business sense stuck in midair (Rheta Grimsley Johnson): The wannabe passengers of American Airlines Flight 300, Dallas to Atlanta, huddled around a harried airline supervisor, listening to excuses.

Aug. 1 -- Depth of Joe's anguish finally revealed (Bob Greene): By the time the child known as Joe was escorted out of the courthouse in Henry County, Ill. -- a confessed criminal at the age of 8, a battery conviction on his record -- several things had become clear.