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July 31 -- Assault on personal responsibility (George Will): WASHINGTON -- Before the tobacco bill was blown to rags and atoms by its supporters' overreaching, they substituted reiteration for reasoning.
July 31 -- A scandal making America squirm (Ellen Goodman): BOSTON -- Let me remind you of the apocryphal story that parents tell each other with a knowing laugh. It's about the mother who has been waiting nervously for "the talk."
July 31 -- A pointless strike ends after too long (ARN Editorial): The 54-day strike against General Motors is over now, and there's blood all over the floor.
July 30 -- Medical savings accounts offer many benefits (ARN Editorial): Donna Shalala, secretary of Health and Human Services, voiced the administration line about medical savings accounts the other day, saying they were risky, a benefit only to the healthy and wealthy, and a threat to the less fortunate among us.
July 30 -- Powerball mania (ARN Editorial): Powerball madness rises again.
July 30 -- A spiritual illness leads to murder (Cal Thomas): PORTADOWN, Northern Ireland - ``I propose to speak of murder,'' said the young pastor at a Protestant church.
July 30 -- Of cash and flammable pajamas (Molly Ivins): AUSTIN - Keeping your eye on the shell with the pea under it seems to get harder and harder.
July 29 -- Public grasps private Social Security option (ARN Editorial): A newspaper's poll shows a majority of Americans believe it a good idea to invest some of their Social Security taxes in private accounts, but President Clinton didn't sound so sure himself during a town meeting in Albuquerque, N.M.
July 29 -- Courage at the Capitol (ARN Editorial): Most of us most of the time probably take security police for granted.
July 29 -- A fragile shield from lunatic rage (Linda Chavez): A madman's shots shattered the peace in the U.S. Capitol last week, killing two police officers, injuring a young woman and depriving the nation of its already tenuous sense of security.
July 29 -- A little boy in a too-big chair (Bob Greene): His own lawyer compared him to a beaten dog.
July 28 -- White House mounts nursing home offensive (ARN Editorial): President Clinton has ordered a crackdown on nursing homes, and you might think that's because of an increasing number of violations.
July 28 -- America's new war of the sexes (Ellen Goodman): BOSTON - So what do we have here? The economy is humming along, the country's at peace, even the battle of the sexes seems scattered along the Lewinsky Line, and suddenly the religious right is focusing on homosexuality as a threat to the Republic.
July 28 -- When the world watches a shootout: LONDON - It's fascinating to watch an American crisis from an international perspective. It's particularly fascinating when the topic is yet another murder spree by an American madman with a weapon.
July 27 -- Early warning for American policy makers (ARN Editorial): Iran has successfully tested a medium-range -- 800 miles -- missile, and, while worrisome, that fact alone does not change the military equation in the Mideast.
July 27 -- Parole system shutting down (Molly Ivins): AUSTIN -- Some short Stories About Texas Today:
July 27 -- Democrats search for themes (Morton Kondracke): Closing out the "unity" meeting of liberal and centrist policy wonks she hosted July 8, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton expressed the hope that congressional Democrats would develop a message this fall that appeals to swing voters.
July 26 -- A high-flying hero of wit and courage (ARN Editorial): It was just a 15-minute ride, a flight of a few hundred miles, and if you didn't know the context and the consequences, Alan B. Shepard's 1961 trip aboard a rocket-propelled capsule might seem less an accomplishment, not even the first venture of a human being into space.
July 26 -- Belated action on nursing homes (Ann McFeatters): WASHINGTON - There's something infuriating about President Clinton's "crackdown" on deplorable conditions in some nursing homes, promising surprise inspections to catch abuses.
July 26 -- Gingrich's re-election snake oil (Joseph Spear): There are many similarities between politicians and snakes. For example, both creatures periodically molt and grow new skins. But the fresh epidermis doesn't change the basic fact that underneath it all, they are still politicians and snakes. It is this process, in fact, that makes politicians so darned entertaining.
July 26 -- He'll always be 'my baby' to this mother (Sharon Randall): In many Southern families, the youngest child - the so-called last of the litter - is forever known as "the baby."
July 26 -- Analysis of statistics shows gun owners less likely to be arrested than others (Guest Columnist): I read with interest the AP story on the front-page of the July 11 edition of the Abilene Reporter-News, "More than 1,600 concealed gun carriers arrested." I would like to compare the numbers reported in that story with the arrests reported on the FBI Uniform Crime Report for 1995.
July 26 -- Concern for veterans lost amid celebrating the economy (Guest Columnist): I express my opinions as a veteran and a retiree from the Army of the United States. During 42 years practicing dentistry in Comanche, I became well acquainted with the VA medical service.
July 26 -- The Monarchs will soon be roosting in Abilene again (Guest Columnist): When are the monarchs due? The migration usually reaches Abilene the last part of September and the first half of October. Last year a few came in August. That was followed by a truly spectacular migration that lasted almost a month.
July 26 -- Custodial parents set meeting to organize (Guest Columnist): In October 1997, the Abilene Reporter-News printed a letter to the editor I had written regarding the inefficiency and inadequacy of the Texas Attorney General Child Support Division.
July 25 -- Studies used to make policy must be sound (ARN Editorial): A federal judge has ruled the Environmental Protection Agency basically fudged a pivotal 1993 study in the war on smoking to reach the predetermined conclusion that secondhand smoke causes cancer.
July 25 -- America stays put: (ARN Editorial): Americans are settling down. Where once the average American moved every five years, it's now every six years and three months.
July 25 -- Staying cool at all costs worthly (Rheta Grimsley Johnson): I read once that Ted Turner has no air conditioner in his Florida mansion. I applauded his rare courage, then went and stood smack in front of my window unit, letting the artificial cool part my hair and numb my ears.
July 25 -- So, what's wrong with this menu? (Bob Greene): ERIE, Pa. - This was a shocking - shocking! - event. What made it all the more startling was the place where it happened: A Bob Evans restaurant.
July 24 -- IMF is cheap insurance in global market (ARN Editorial): Satisfied that they have made their point - whatever it was - House Republicans have relented on the International Monetary Fund, approving $3.4 billion for immediate loans and promising to approve $14.5 billion in reserve funds down the road. The Senate has already OK'd the full $17.9 billion package.
July 24 -- Poor, poor Congress (ARN Editorial): Anxious not to offend constituents in an election year, Congress is not taking a pay raise, even though it is entitled to one under the backdoor, negative option mechanism it set up to get pay raises without voting on them.
July 24 -- Gay groups should show tolerance (Linda Chavez): First it was Reggie White, then Trent Lott and now a coalition of conservative Christian groups who have raised the hackles of gay-rights activists by suggesting homosexual behavior is sinful.
July 24 -- Gay bashing risks moderates' support (Morton Kondracke): Don't Republicans ever learn? In 1996, they lost the presidential election and nearly lost the House by seeming intolerant, chiefly toward immigrants. Now they're at it again with homosexuals.
July 23 -- Senate panel should reject hate crimes bill (ARN Editorial): The proposed Hate Crimes Prevention Act is a New Age sort of law; it deals with feelings. It says crimes motivated by hate are worse than the same crimes motivated by, say, greed, rage or sadism.
July 23 -- And the winners are ... (ARN Editorial): The national productivity has suffered this summer while workplaces halt to debate a spate of lists: the 100 best movies, the 100 best novels. Now the Postal Service is contributing to the slowdown by running contests to choose the most stamp-worthy events of the 1950s and '60s.
July 23 -- 'Once gay, always gay' theory in error (Cal Thomas): The recent series of full-page newspaper ads sponsored by conservative and Christian organizations telling homosexuals they can change their behavior and lifestyle if they want to strikes at the heart of the intolerant gay rights movement.
July 23 -- Global politics in Youngstown, Ohio (Molly Ivins): YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO - "Youngstown," people here will tell you genially, "is always on the list of the 10 Most Politically Corrupt Places in America."
July 22 -- Make your own list of century's top 10 novels (ARN Editorial): Perhaps you read Tuesday's front-page story about the Modern Library editorial board's list of the best novels of the twentieth century. Perhaps, as a serious reader, you were taken aback by some of the selections.
July 22 -- Not cruise ship, Lollipop (ARN Editorial): The Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board are now studying the cause of the fire aboard the cruise ship Ecstasy and undoubtedly will come up with useful recommendations about smoke detectors and laundry room wiring.
July 22 -- Roy a renegade when it came to love (Rheta Grimsley Johnson): It's sad when you read about the death of someone you didn't know was still alive.
July 22 -- 'He wasn't Mr. Hard Core no more' (Bob Greene): By the time we were able to locate the child known as Joe, he was 7 years old. His life had descended into a hell no little boy should ever have to know about, much less endure.
July 21 -- Thalidomide will never be OK for some (ARN Editorial): Thalidomide - one of the most chilling words in medical lore - is coming back on the market.
July 21 -- Four and twenty (ARN Editorial): South Korea is not ordinarily thought of as a source of golfers. Se Ri Pak is causing the golf world to rethink that proposition.
July 21 -- Putting nature back where it belongs (Ellen Goodman): AUGUSTA, Maine - Steve Brooke steers his Boston Whaler up the Kennebec River, past half a dozen Great Blue Heron standing like dignified sentries along the banks.
July 21 -- We need global vision, not Jesse Helms (Donald Kaul): It is one of the curious ironies of history that, at the precise moment at which the United States has assumed the virtually unchallenged leadership of the world, our government has fallen into the hands of people whose vision, for the most part, does not extend much beyond the village in which they grew up.
July 20 -- Nowadays, it's three strikes, you're sued: (ARN Editorial): Something about kids and baseball brings out the pigheadedness in adults.
July 20 -- A case clear as Mudd (ARN Editorial): If you were an ancestor with a blot on your record, Dr. Richard Mudd is the kind of descendant you would want.
July 20 -- Creating 'divided states of America' (Cal Thomas): My last name is Welsh in origin. Two years ago I visited Wales for the first time. It was an interesting trip, but I felt no siren call to "come home." I returned to America with no sense that I needed to hyphenate my nationality, or learn the ancient language of Wales, or read more of Dylan Thomas than I already have.
July 20 -- Congress sure busy doing a lot to us (Molly Ivins): "One of the first duties of government is protect the weak against the strong, to prevent men from injuring one another."
July 19 -- What we need to hear versus what we want (ARN Editorial): Congress should tell us what we need to hear, not what it thinks we like to hear. What we need to hear is that now is not the time for huge tax cuts.
July 19 -- Forbes may be top GOP contender (Morton Kondracke): Steve Forbes scores just 7 percent in the latest poll of Republican presidential contenders, a third of what Texas Gov. George W. Bush gets. Yet I wouldn't be surprised to see him on the 2000 GOP presidential ticket.
July 19 -- Small mistake reminds her husband gone (Sharon Randall): My tombstone will read: "Here lies Sharon, poor thing, she meant well."
July 19 -- Computers R US? Maybe not in Y2K (Dale McFeatters): WASHINGTON -- So you step outside on midnight, Dec. 31, 1999, to welcome in the New Year and the new century, and all the lights go out. Your bank account is wiped out, your flight to Cleveland is diverted to Rwanda and a notice arrives saying bring your horse, you've just been drafted into the U.S. Cavalry.
July 19 -- A certain mile run that has been enjoyed many times over (Elvin Mathis): These days of hot weather remind me of a time during World War II when I had an unforgettable experience during very warm temperatures.
July 19 -- Common sense can help handle hot summer days (By David Smith): As long as the heat is on, you need a good dose of common sense to handle the dog days of summer.
July 19 -- An 'outsider' discovers fulfillment in Abilene (Angela Oltmanns): Anyone familiar with human resource management would be familiar with the Abilene Paradox. It's a great example of how people get moved to do something they really don't want to do -- "shoulding."
July 19 -- Where do the kids get the guns in the first place?: A bill before Congress would require all gun owners to be responsible for them -- and the damage they do in the hands of children.
July 18 -- A brutal czar finally receives a state funeral (ARN Editorial): The book is closing on the 20th century and one of its bloodiest chapters was wrapped up Friday when Czar Nicholas II was laid to rest in St. Petersburg, 80 years to the day after the Bolsheviks executed him, his wife and children and servants in a cellar.
July 18 -- But it can yell, 'Duck!' (ARN Editorial): Sensationalize it, and the government programs will follow.
July 18 -- Bashing the 'liberal media' myth (Martin Schram): Just in time for the lazy, hazy, news-lite days of summer comes a poll of 141 Washington- based journalists that delivers an important but rather hidden message for both the media and the masses.
July 18 -- Tragedy that shouldn't have happened (Bob Greene): The child known as Joe -- a boy about whom we have reported for 3-1/2 years -- has been confined involuntarily to a residential facility, where, at the age of 10, he lives among strangers, away from everyone who ever loved him.
July 17 -- Japan situation calls for strong, dynamic leader (ARN Editorial:) The financial markets rally was almost as stunning as the electoral setback that led to the resignation of Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto: Any new government can't help but be an improvement.
July 17 -- Hillary's new cause calm but valuable (ARN Editorial:) White House political advisers prefer that the first ladies' pet projects be noncontroversial no-brainers. No vocal, powerful lobby opposes literacy (Barbara Bush), drug eradication (Nancy Reagan) or mental health (Rosalynn Carter).
July 17 -- Rolling in the mail but not the muck (Joseph Spear): What's bugging the body politic? Bill Clinton and Kenneth Starr, if you can believe the mailbag. And -- surprise, surprise -- there has been more pro than anti-Clinton mail. This is an amazing occurrence, given that most people who write are usually naysayers who have very nasty things to say about the president.
July 17 -- 'Hen convention' made a good start (Ellen Goodman): SENECA FALLS, N.Y. -- This is where it all began. Exactly 150 years ago, on July 19, 1848, when nearly 300 people gathered at the center of this blue-collar mill town to give birth to the women's rights movement.
July 16 -- Teachers need support, but education, too (ARN Editorial): Fifty-nine percent of 1,800 teacher applicants in Massachusetts recently flunked a certification test that by all accounts was relatively easy -- essentially, a basic skills test.
July 16 -- Fooling us again on the tobacco bill (Molly Ivins): AUSTIN -- They fooled you once on the tobacco bill with a $40 million public relations campaign -- all those TV ads claiming the tobacco bill was about "new taxes" and would create "40 new government bureaucracies." Shame on them.
July 16 -- Who cares about a killing nowadays? (Cal Thomas): Amy Grossberg and Brian Peterson are going to jail for killing their newborn baby boy 16 months ago. But they won't be there long. Good behavior could reduce their light sentences in a Delaware prison to less than two years each.
July 15 -- Judge's leniency ruling could be explosive factor (ARN Editorial): It's almost as if a three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver had collected a whole bunch of dynamite, had stuck individual sticks of the stuff in the offices of federal, state and local prosecutors and had then lit the fuses.
July 15 -- Explaining economics (ARN Editorial): Finally, economic news that's easily explainable.
July 15 -- Punishment falls short of brutal act (Linda Chavez): Amy Grossberg was sentenced last week to 30 months in prison for the death of her newborn son. Her boyfriend Brian Peterson, the baby's father, was sentenced to two years for his role in the crime.
July 15 -- ... was never molested by his parents (Bob Greene): "And I was never molested by my parents, so I have no criminal defense."
July 14 -- Victims' rights not necessary in Constitution (ARN Editorial): The Senate could save itself some time, the public some hassle and the Constitution some disfigurement by skipping - on the quite real grounds of lack of time - a vote on the "victims' rights" amendment.
July 14 -- The Navy's moo cows (ARN Editorial): The U.S. Naval Academy's dairy farm provides daily milk to the midshipmen and periodic yucks to exposers of government waste. Al Gore, vice president and government efficiency expert, has had considerable fun at the dairy's expense.
July 14 -- Science, culture clash over implants (Ellen Goodman): BOSTON - To get to the heart of the Silicone Story, you have to go back to the very beginning. Back to postwar Japan where young women trying to attract American soldiers had industrial-strength transformer coolant injected directly into their breasts.
July 14 -- Sisterhood hasn't helped on this one (Betsy Hart): With the recent court decisions on sexual harassment, I wonder what would be their implications for one case in particular:
July 13 -- IRS reform worthwhile, if not perfect (ARN Editorial): The vote for IRS reform in the House was 402 to 8 and in the Senate 96 to 2, and so you can figure there weren't many critics of the measure in Congress.
July 13 -- Just call these bonds 'politically correct' (ARN Editorial): Starting Sept. 1, the small saver will be able to buy inflation-protected U.S. savings bonds, the same way the big boys have been able to buy inflation-adjusted T-bills the last 18 months.
July 13 -- Memories of a lunch with Roy Rogers (Cal Thomas): On many occasions I have eaten lunch AT Roy Rogers, but not until last December had I ever had lunch WITH Roy Rogers.
July 13 -- Enjoying that summer off can take work (Rheta Grimsley Johnson): On the first day of her Georgia vacation, my niece Chelsey swam, rented "George of the Jungle," ate four hot dogs, bought 10 paperbacks and a Mulan doll with a ponytail you can cut off with a plastic sword, then reattach.
July 13 -- Please just print the facts, ma'm (Molly Ivins): AUSTIN - Since I wrote an extremely indignant column a few weeks ago based on bad information - the alleged use of nerve gas by American troops during the Vietnam War - I owe readers a sort of second-degree apology. I was so horrified by the accusation myself that I waxed wroth on the subject without questioning the story. My apologies to all.
July 12 -- Not all disease carries same political clout (ARN Editorial): A blue-ribbon panel of scientists has affirmed what everybody already knew: Some diseases have more political clout than others when it comes to obtaining federal research dollars.
July 12 -- Unfair to lay government's shortcomings at Stenholm's feet (Guest Columnist): Ben Doyle Sudderth, a brilliant attorney in Comanche, wrote a letter to the Abilene Reporter-News supporting Rudy Izzard for Congress. He criticized the government for failing to take care of World War II veterans and posed the question as to where incumbent Congressman Charles Stenholm has been the last 20 years.
July 12 -- Why does the city keep wasting so much water? (Guest Columnist): I have been involved in the use of Redbud Park for many years, starting with the carving out of soccer fields for use by the Big Country Soccer Association.
July 12 -- Veterans can't be passive when dealing with DVA (Guest Columnist): The purpose of this article is to portray a more favorable picture of the Department of Veterans Affairs. This department is composed of three parts that are separate and apart from each other. There is the medical and treatment section, the benefits section ,and the development and research area.
July 12 -- Handicapped equipment is damaged (Guest Columnist): I recently asked a friend who used to work for the city what happened to the new handicapped-accessible equipment put into Redbud park. He told me the children without a disability had been playing on it and had repeatedly broken it; so they eventually had to take this special equipment out.
July 12 -- An abducted child belongs to community ( Sharon Randall): The whole world, it seems, is moving heaven and earth to find Christina Williams. In the three and a half weeks since Christina, 13, was last seen walking her dog near her family's home at Fort Ord, Calif., the picture of her pretty face - her dark hair, easy smile and bright, trusting eyes - has been fixed in our collective memory by countless fliers and news reports, seen everywhere from local street corners to national TV.
July 12 -- Overseeing IRS not for weak-willed (Ann McFeatters): WASHINGTON - In this year of political brinkmanship, Congress has sent President Clinton a bill he can't refuse - overhaul of the agency everybody loves to hate (with good reason).
July 12 -- Clinton discovers joys of foreign travel (Dale McFeatters): WASHINGTON - In the nation's capital, Bill Clinton is just another president of the United States. Overseas, he is a World Leader.
July 11 -- Food supply doesn't need more red tape (ARN Editorial): To hear President Clinton talk about it, the nation's food supply is a deadly menace to man, woman and child; a threat, however, that he could take care of if the stingy Republicans would just hand over $100 million for more bureaucrats, more inspectors and more red tape that would probably send the cost of food soaring.
July 11 -- In search of looted art (ARN Editorial): During World War II, Nazi leaders who fancied themselves connoisseurs of the fine arts methodically plundered nations and individuals of art works. Their plans for grotesque and gargantuan Aryan museums collapsed along with the Third Reich, and the looted art was dispersed in the messy aftermath of the war.
July 11 -- Truth is less marketable than fiction (Joesph Spear): In the search for truth - the holy grail of philosophers, historians, sages, writers, journalists and even some lawyers - here's how much we have progressed over the past two millennia ...
July 11 -- The best American movie ever made (Bob Greene): ERIE, PA. - Ah, here we are at last, in the music and happiness capital of the world. What, you ask? Erie, Pa.? The capital of anything - much less the capital of happiness?
July 11 -- 'Whisperer' shouts out its unreality (Rheta Grimsley): As the generational rabbit moves through the python, more movies feature love stories that must seem downright geriatric to the Leo DiCaprio set.
July 10 -- Justices right to let school nix bad words (ARN Editorial): A St. Louis teacher violated her school's profanity policy, got fired, sued to get her job back on First Amendment and civil rights grounds and finally was told by a federal appeals court that she had no case. Justice has been done.
July 10 -- Bush would find Washington different: DALLAS - Life is going well for Texas Gov. George W. Bush. He turned 52 on Monday with his political fortunes almost unimaginably solid.
July 10 -- Law can't enforce parent-child talks (Ellen Goodman): BOSTON - Sooner or later it always comes down to earrings.
July 9 -- Next summit in Moscow is long overdue (ARN Editorial): Between a dogged special prosecutor and a quarrelsome Republican Congress, President Clinton understandably takes every opportunity to get out of Washington.
July 9 -- This Bush a different sort of 'boomer' (Cal Thomas): HOUSTON - The cover of this month's Texas Monthly magazine depicts a mock campaign button that says "Bush for President?" On it is a smiling image of the Texas governor who carries a past and possibly future presidential name.
July 9 -- Star reporters are just for show (Martin Schram): At last the public has been told. At the core of CNN's stunning announcement of retraction, recrimination and retribution for its splashy claim that American troops used nerve gas in Laos was an unprecedented public admission about its news super-stars - and, in fact, the entire galaxy of TV stars everywhere who are paid millions just to tell us the news.
July 8 -- U.S. economy feeling effects of Asian crisis (ARN Editorial): The economists have been predicting it would happen, and now it has. Asia's economic chaos is beginning to hamper America's sprinting economy.
July 8 -- Riding into the sunset (ARN Editorial): The singing cowboy movie enlivened the Saturday afternoons of generations of youngsters who came of age in the '30s, '40s and even into the '50s. That gentle art form is long gone, and now so is its leading practitioner, Roy Rogers.
July 8 -- Teachers' mega-merger ill-conceived (Linda Chavez): American parents can rest a little easier this week, now that plans for a mega-merger between the nation's two teachers unions have fallen through. Delegates to the national convention of the 2.4-million-member National Education Association voted last weekend to reject a proposal to merge with the 900,000-member American Federation of Teachers.
July 8 -- Drive-in was an escape from formality (Bob Greene): PITTSBURGH - With America sweltering as summer sweats and gasps its way along, one piece of news from Pennsylvania's Mercer County is enough to bring a smile to damp and weary faces.
July 7 -- 'Merry Widow' offers Abilene welcome relief (ARN Editorial): Maintaining what has now become a modern tradition, the Abilene Opera Association again adds welcome diversity to our summer entertainment, this time with an effervescent production of Franz Lehar's operetta, "The Merry Widow." The show opens Friday night at the Paramount Theatre, with subsequent performances Sunday afternoon and next Tuesday night.
July 7 -- The violation of feminine friendship (Ellen Goodman): BOSTON - Bless the BBC's passion for linguistic precision; at least they got it right. During Linda Tripp Week at the Grand Jury, the Brits were virtually alone in referring to Starr's star witness as a colleague. Not a friend.
July 7 -- Voter decline 'enlightened defeatism' (George Will): WASHINGTON - Members of Congress have been home celebrating American independence, the male members by spilling mustard on their red neckties (do they wear them even at picnics? probably) and getting their wingtips close to the grass roots. Members of both parties must be nervously wondering who is going to vote Nov. 3.
July 6 -- Government can't dictate culture trends (ARN Editorial): The culture ministers of 19 countries got together in Ottawa to discuss ways they could keep American cultural influences from swamping their lands, a task roughly comparable to keeping an ocean's tides off beaches.
July 6 -- U.S. stands for I.O.U. (ARN Editorial): If you owe the bank $1,000, you don't sleep at night; if you owe the bank $1 million, the banker doesn't sleep at night.
July 6 -- News unfit to print (or to broadcast) (Cal Thomas): Those with a conservative worldview will not be shocked at the recent reports of lying by some elements of the mainstream press. For years conservatives have complained about the declining quality and one-sidedness of much that passes for modern journalism. Now, in addition to perceived political bias, come an outbreak of gross factual errors that could have been avoided had traditional journalistic norms been observed.
July 6 -- Debunking the SAT-score myth (Molly Ivins): AUSTIN - In a dandy letter to the editor the other day came this useful distinction about questions: There are questions of faith, such as "Does God exist?" There are questions of opinion, such as "Who is the greatest baseball player of all time?" There are debate questions, such as "Should abortion be legal?"
July 5 -- Trip secured foundation for better relations (ARN Editorial): President Clinton's China summit was a remarkable success, almost as remarkable as the White House claims. He confounded his critics and laid the groundwork for real progress in U.S-China relations.
July 5 -- A match to the kindling (ARN Editorial): Apparently operating under the misconception that we're all holding our breath until the 2000 presidential campaign commences, Republicans in Iowa - whose precinct caucuses already mark the too-early opening of the presidential nominating year - have dreamed up a straw poll of presidential candidates in the summer of 1999.
July 5 -- Animal welfare a major concern of professional rodeo (Guest Column): This is in response to a letter from Diane Meier in your paper on June 15. Her comments were uninformed and untrue. The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association enforces 60 rules that govern the care and treatment of livestock and PRCA-sanctioned events.
July 5 -- Apples and oranges and gasoline prices (Guest Column): I read with interest the letter in the June 25 edition of the paper from Mr. Randy Smith in Baird. To bring his economics of the petroleum industry into a little clearer focus, I would like to point out that during the time frame he referred to "when oil prices were $32 per barrel," gasoline prices were in the $1.42-$1.50 per gallon range, not $1.20 per gallon.
July 5 -- Dozens of hate groups and fringe organizations plague our society, seeking someone to blame (Guest Column): Recent events in Jasper, Texas, have caused me considerable thought concerning hate groups and fringe organizations that plague our society. The alarming thing is that there are dozens of them on all sides of the spectrum.
July 5 -- Prisons' ongoing education program a success story (Guest Column): Being an instructor at the John R. Lindsey State Jail in Jacksboro, I was pleased to read the Abilene Reporter-News story in your June 21 paper about the graduation of the 13 Robertson Unit inmates. The education program seems to be one of the most positive aspects offered to inmates - the education offered by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and privately run state jails in the Criminal Justice Department agenda to rehabilitate inmates.
July 5 -- Congress should supply HMO facts (Morton Kondracke): It's an astounding finding: At 16 university medical centers, where treatment should be top-notch, more than half of the heart patients were not getting up-to-date medicine from their cardiologists, including cholesterol fighters and even aspirin.
July 5 -- The future in the palm of your hand (Dale McFeatters): The function of modern technology is to assure that everything you have at the office you can have at home and that what you have at home you can have in your car and that everything in your car you can have on your person.
July 5 -- Ideas of home change when you go away (Sharon Randall): The flight from Charlotte to San Francisco seemed longer than your average moon trip. When the pilot mentioned headwinds, I laughed. "Right," I thought. "The winds of change."
July 4 -- A day when something DID happen: (ARN Editorial) One story has it that, on July 4, 1776, King George III scribbled in his diary, "Nothing happened today." An ocean away, a group of men thought differently.
July 4 -- Day to recall America's basic beliefs: (ARN Editorial) NEW YORK - Independence Day is the most important holiday that we, the American people, celebrate. It is as central to our character as a people as Easter is to Christianity, Passover is to Judaism and Ramadan to Islam.
July 4 -- How high do we really want to be? (Bob Greene): PITTSBURGH -- One of the most knowing slogans in any current advertising campaign appears in a print ad for LOT, the airline of Poland. Emphasizing the hospitality said to await visitors to Poland, the ad uses the headline: "Be Treated Like Royalty in the Days Before Tabloids."
July 3 -- Nation's symbol stands on truth of words, ideas (ARN Editorial): Saturday, on the Fourth of July, Americans throughout the Abilene area will be paying special honors to the red, white and blue of the United States flag on the day when we celebrate our founding as a free nation.
July 3 -- Martian anniversary (ARN Editorial): The pace of astronomical discoveries has been so fast that it's possible to forget a remarkable feat of space exploration that occurred just one year ago.
July 3 -- End of sexual harassment term (Ellen Goodman): BOSTON - By now it's become a summer ritual. The justices finish the term cramming as if they were still law students. They drop their final papers on the public desk and head off for vacation.
July 3 -- Trap of 'self-determination' for Kosovo (George Will): WASHINGTON - In China and Kosovo, two of this century's durable arguments are resonating loudly. As a result, two thinkers not often thought of nowadays - Hannah Arendt and Robert Lansing - are again pertinent to U.S. foreign policy.
July 2 -- Good times keep on rolling for most of us (ARN Editorial): For most Americans, the good times keep on rolling. In May, it's reported, wages and salaries went up handsomely on average. Inflation remains at the lowest level in almost three decades, and almost everyone who wants a job is finding one.
July 2 -- Global warming and 'sport utes' (Molly Ivins): AUSTIN - So, fellow Texans, how are we feeling about global warming now? Keep in mind, summer only started June 21. Let's see how we feel by the end of it.
July 2 -- The other superpower of 21st century: President Clinton's trip to China is being spun by his handlers as a diplomatic breakthrough of heroic proportions and dismissed by his critics as just about what you could expect of a politician visiting someone who had contributed millions of dollars to his campaign.
July 1 -- The unknown has a name (ARN Editorial): One of the Unknowns is now known. A new DNA test has matched the remains of First Lt. Michael Blassie genetically with his mother. That test solves a 26-year-old mystery for one family; it leaves the family and friends of nine others, whose remains might have been in the Tomb of the Unknowns, still wondering.
July 1 -- NBA's second season (ARN Editorial): Every major pro sport, it seems, has two seasons: a regular season and a business season. In the regular season, the teams play each other; in the business season, the players play the owners.
July 1 -- Encouraging bad workplace behavior (Linda Chavez): In two of the more bizarre decisions in recent years, the Supreme Court last week announced a new legal theory that will have far-reaching consequences in American workplaces: An employer can be held liable when one of its employees sexually harasses another, even if the employer had no way of knowing the harassment was occurring and the victim did not inform the employer of what was happening.
July 1 -- Harbors that will never, ever log off (Bob Greene): BOSTON - Early in the morning, just after the sun has come up, a walk along the edge of Boston Harbor is a tranquil way to slow down and quietly think.