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    <title>Opinion for Richmond Times-Dispatch</title>
    <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/</link>
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        <title>Opinion for Richmond Times-Dispatch</title>
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    <description></description>
    <dc:language>en</dc:language>
    <dc:creator>Richmond Times-Dispatch</dc:creator>
    <dc:rights>Copyright 2009</dc:rights>
    <dc:date>2009-07-06T14:55:22-05:00</dc:date>

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          <title>Guns: Shooting Straight</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-GUNS06_20090705-165603/278184/</link>
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Today&#8217;s touch&#233; comes from a reader who raises a question about guns. The Virginia Citizens Defense League recently handed out stickers at the Richmond Coliseum prior to an appearance by talk-show sensation Glenn Beck; &#8220;Guns Save Lives,&#8220; the stickers read. Coliseum personnel asked the VCDLers to stop handing them out&#8212;an affront to the First Amendment if ever there was one.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:01:48 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Correspondent of the Day: Health Care Bill Incites Fear and Concern</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-DEAN6_20090705-165603/278183/</link>
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Health Care Bill Incites Fear and Concern Editor, Times-Dispatch: President Barack Obama talks about the need for a government option for health care. He promises a good, comprehensive plan. Curious, then, that the bill the Senate is considering specifically excludes Congress. Apparently it likes the coverage it now has. Looking a little further into the bill, one finds that unions get a special exclusion as well. They won&#8217;t have to pay taxes on benefits&#8212;but everyone else in America will. Why the special exemptions for Congress and unions? The ruling class is setting up two separate health care systems&#8212;one for those with political clout and the rich who can afford to pay taxes on their gold-plated benefits, and one for everyone else.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:01:39 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>War on Drugs: Militarize the Border?</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-BORD06_20090705-165603/278182/</link>
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A turf fight has broken out in Washington between the secretary of homeland security, Janet Napolitano, and the secretary of defense, Robert Gates, over sending National Guard troops to help fight drug trafficking across the U.S.-Mexico border. But if you think Gates is muscling in on DHS territory, think again. In fact, it&#8217;s Napolitano&#8212;a former governor of Arizona&#8212;who would like to see 1,500 troops sent to border areas to help fight drug smuggling. She has the support of governors in border states, such as California&#8217;s Arnold Schwarzenegger and Texas&#8217; Rick Perry. Gates disagrees, contending that the job properly lies with border-control and law-enforcement agencies and that such tasks fall outside the job description of America&#8217;s military forces.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:01:39 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Letters To The Editor, July 6</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-POWELL6_20090705-165603/278186/</link>
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Taxpayers Shouldn&#8217;t Pay For Kaine&#8217;s DNC EventsTaxpayers Shouldn&#8217;t Pay For Kaine&#8217;s DNC Events Editor, Times-Dispatch: Gov. Tim Kaine&#8217;s communications director recently said Kaine has no legal obligation to provide the Republican Party of Virginia with records of his out-of-state travel.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:01:26 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Economists Missed Signs That Could Have Predicted Crisis</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-SAMUEL06_20090705-165603/278187/</link>
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WASHINGTON Niall Ferguson is one of those rare characters: a respected scholar who&#8217;s also a successful popularizer. Ferguson, a Brit, has taught at Oxford, New York University, and now at Harvard. He has writ ten about World War I, the British Empire, and the Rothschilds (Europe&#8217;s most powerful banking family). He has turned four of his projects into TV documentaries, the latest of which&#8212;&#8220;The Ascent of Money,&#8220; which is also a book&#8212;begins airing on PBS July 8. It is a program that could be usefully viewed by most of America&#8217;s roughly 13,000 economists.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:01:09 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Utilities: Smart Billing</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-STORM06_20090705-165603/278188/</link>
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A little more than a year ago, the Wilder administration and the City Council backed off a proposed stormwater fee to underwrite infrastructure projects, many of which the council killed off for financial reasons. This year the council decided it could put matters off no longer, and adopted a budget that included a stormwater fee. City residents have received brochures. In a few weeks, they&#8217;ll receive the bills, which typically will run in the neigbhorhood of $50 for the year. Businesses will have to shell out, too.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:01:05 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>On The Waterfront: Karl Malden</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-KARL06_20090705-165603/278185/</link>
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It isn&#8217;t just Brando. The &#8220;I could have been a contender&#8221; scene ranks among Hollywood&#8217;s finest, but there are many reasons &#8220;On the Waterfront&#8221; stakes a compelling claim to status as the greatest movie ever. In addition to Marlon Brando&#8217;s performance, the list includes the acting of Karl Malden, Rod Steiger, Eva Marie Saint, and Lee J. Cobb&#8212;plus the script by Budd Schulberg, the score by Leonard Bernstein, and the direction of Elia Kazan.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:01:02 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Bob Rayner: Political Dispatches</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/commentary/article/ED-PD0705_20090703-201406/277893/</link>
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Editor&#8217;s Note: Here&#8217;s a sample from Political Dispatches, the paper&#8217;s weekly e-mail newsletter. Polls in the gubernatorial race don&#8217;t mean much at this stage, other than to confirm that both candidates have a reasonably good chance of winning. Competitive campaigns don&#8217;t always stay that way, as demonstrated by Republican Jim Gilmore in 1997, when what began as an even match with Don Beyer turned into a landslide for the GOP. Still, the odds are that we&#8217;re in for a close contest in November.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:01:58 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Nuclear Power: It&#8217;s Time to Float Some Bold Energy Solutions</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/commentary/article/ED-LIND05_20090703-201406/277892/</link>
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President Obama reminded us earlier this year that the nation needs a transition to renewable energy in the short term. &#8220;We need to find safer ways to use nuclear power and store nuclear waste.&#8220; But, while Obama has paid lip service to expanding nuclear power and not much else, other countries are busy building nuclear power plants. The United States has not built a plant since the 1979 accident at the nuclear facility at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:01:57 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Government Health Plan Would Hurt Quality, Innovation, Choice</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/commentary/article/ED-KING05_20090703-201603/277902/</link>
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For more than a year, health plans have been working collaboratively with federal lawmakers and key stakeholders to facilitate the ongoing health care reform effort. While there has been remarkable consensus on many fronts, there has not been agreement on the role government should play in America&#8217;s health care system. As everyone continues to work to improve our health care system, the debate over a new, government-run health insurance plan is taking center stage. We must carefully think through the far-reaching changes that would result from a government-run plan. A government-run plan could destabilize the market, reduce consumer choice, increase the cost of private coverage, and reduce the quality of health care.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:01:53 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Runaway Reform</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-HEAL05_20090703-201406/277891/</link>
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The nation is embroiled in a feverish debate about how to fix our health care system&#8212;and fix it now! Never mind that much of the system works well or that its weaknesses are largely the product of decades of well-intentioned but poorly conceived tax laws, insurance regulations, and government programs that have weakened both providers and patients. Never mind that the economics of health care have befuddled our best minds for years, or that the industry consumes at least one in six dollars spent in this country.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:01:44 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Higher Taxes Will Damage America&#8217;s Ability to Compete</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/commentary/article/ED-CAST05_20090703-201603/277901/</link>
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For more than a century Congress has recognized the importance of keeping American companies competitive in the global marketplace, understanding that their success and growth abroad increases prosperity and creates jobs here at home. To level the playing field, Congress enacted a series of complex tax rules designed to prevent double taxation and allow American companies to compete on an equal footing with their foreign competitors.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:01:42 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Can California Be Sold on eBay&#8217;s Former Chief?</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-WILL05_20090703-201406/277896/</link>
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SANTA MONICA, Calif. California&#8217;s campaigns introduce candidates not only to the state&#8217;s voters but to its immensity. In Bakersfield, Meg Whitman, 52, the former CEO of eBay who is campaigning for the 2010 Republican gubernatorial nomination, learned about carrots. In 1968, the Grimm brothers were selling vegetables at a roadside stand in Anaheim. They moved to Bakersfield and today Grimmway Farms and one rival provide 80 percent of the nation&#8217;s carrots, partly because the brothers figured out how to make the vegetables pleasingly uniform in shape.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:01:37 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>&#8216;On a Mission From God&#8217; Was No Joke in 1836</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/commentary/article/ED-BERES05_20090703-201406/277887/</link>
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Twenty years ago this summer, with orders to Naval Base San Diego, our then-small family of four packed up, and after tearful goodbyes to family and friends (it would be five long months before we saw them again), left Milwaukee and drove the 2,100 miles to Southern California. Although we had planned the trip well, we were nervous, for we knew no one there, and had no idea where we would live.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:01:37 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Correspondent of the Day: Private Insurers Fear Obama&#8217;s Health Plan</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-POWERS5_20090703-201406/277894/</link>
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Editor, Times-Dispatch: To respond to a question posed by President Barack Obama during his Rose Garden press conference: &#8220;If private insurers say that the marketplace provides the best quality health care; if they tell us that they are offering a good deal, then why is it that the government, which they say can&#8217;t run anything, suddenly [is] going to drive them out of business?&#8220;           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:01:35 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>It&#8217;s Time to Bring Majority Rule to the American Election Process</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/commentary/article/ED-BOB05_20090703-201603/277900/</link>
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Virginia&#8217;s Democratic gubernatorial primary made all sorts of national news last month. The more typical stories equated former Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe&#8217;s defeat with the end of the Clinton era. Yet, despite the abundance of coverage, one significant detail has been left out of the generally agreed upon &#8220;story&#8221; about Virginia&#8217;s recent gubernatorial primary&#8212;the losing candidates received more votes than the winner.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:01:34 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Your 2 Cents</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/commentary/article/ED-2CENTS05_20090703-201406/277886/</link>
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When entering a building, why are we always instructed to &#8220;open the other door&#8221;?&#8212;Gene Puckett, Midlothia   . . .  During his entire administration, Gov. Tim Kaine has painted a dire transportation scenario of the sky falling if large new taxes were not enacted to infuse cash into Virginia roads. After three and a half years of crying wolf, I have noticed no difference for the worse in my road travels through the state. And that is without any large tax increases for transportation that I am aware of. As Kaine&#8217;s term limps to its conclusion, I have yet to feel that piece of sky fall on my head.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:01:34 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>There Are Worse Things Than Being Dependent</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-GOOD05_20090703-201406/277889/</link>
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BOSTON This is probably not the best time to air any reservations about the American passion for independence. After all, we don&#8217;t have fireworks for Dependence Day. We don&#8217;t hold parades to celebrate Interdependence Day. We don&#8217;t get a holiday for Connections. Our allegiance to independence as a nation is Yankee doodle dandy. But I&#8217;m wondering whether our ode to independence as a people is a bit over the top. We foster an unrealistic view of the way we live, not just in the designated years of caring for our children but in the undesignated years when we care for our elders.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:01:21 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>GOP Needs Fewer Puritans, More Small&#45;Government Conservatives</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/commentary/article/ED-BOAZ05_20090703-201603/277899/</link>
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South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford was the emerging leader of the Republican party&#8217;s Reaganite, fiscal-conservative wing. Can he still be a player after revealing an extra-marital affair? Sanford isn&#8217;t the first Republican leader to stumble in his private life. He&#8217;s not even the first one this month. A week earlier, it was Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) revealing his own affair. And these revelations hurt Republicans more than Democrats because of the perception that Republicans set themselves up as moral arbiters. So Democrats are, in the unusually honest words of talk show host Bill Press, &#8220;gleeful tonight because another Republican hypocrite bites the dust.&#8220;           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:01:16 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Education: Exercising Choice in Virginia</title>
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In America, school choice is widespread&#8212;unless you&#8217;re poor. In few places is this truer than in Virginia. Middleand upper-income families can exercise school choice by moving to one of the many suburban districts surrounding cities like my hometown of Richmond. They can also maneuver through the system to send their kids to the few really good public schools that exist in cities like Richmond, allowing them to feel virtuous for supporting the &#8220;public schools&#8221; while protecting their children from the problems that plague the schools overall. Or, as many of the families in my old neighborhood did, they simply opt out by sending their children to one of the popular private schools in the area.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:01:16 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Churches Face the Boomer Challenge</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/commentary/article/ED-HART05_20090703-201406/277890/</link>
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Two recent conversations haunt me. An old college friend, a leading-edge baby boomer (age 63) whom I knew to be a person of faith in college, told me he and his wife &#8220;had given up on the institutional church.&#8220; The other con versation was with an educated professional friend, also a baby boomer, who describes herself as spiritual but not religious.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:01:11 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Meet the experts</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/commentary/article/NV-VIEW05_20090703-201603/277903/</link>
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In a media world with countless news outlets and even more opinionated voices, finding expert sources to add perspective and depth to our coverage is more important than ever. Richmond Times-Dispatch reporters have developed relationships with a number of people they call upon to help decipher an increasingly complex and, often, confusing world. We include their expert observations to make our stories more valuable to our readers.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:01:10 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Letters to the Editor: News Coverage Isn&#8217;t Always Accurate</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-TRUEP5_20090703-201406/277895/</link>
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News Coverage Isn&#8217;t Always Accurate Editor, Times-Dispatch: You are to be commended for printing a letter by China&#8217;s noted dissident, Wei Jungshen, who contradicted an earlier editorial, &#8220;Ghosts,&#8220; concerning Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi&#8217;s recent trip to China and her presumed lack of emphasis on China&#8217;s deplorable human rights record. Wei, who had read the official transcripts of the meetings Pelosi had with Chinese officials, noted that she had brought up the human rights issue, together with other important U.S.-China issues such as trade.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:01:01 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Letters To The Editor</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/SCHULZR_20090702-181203/277671/</link>
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Let&#8217;s Slow Down On Global Warming Plans Editor, Times-Dispatch: Are we out of our minds? The &#8220;promising&#8221; ideas that Sam Thernstrom discusses in his Op/Ed on global warming, &#8220;Can Engineering Fix Climate Change?&#8220; are ridiculous. Using a fleet of ships to help increase the reflectivity of low-level clouds would cost $3 billion for an idea that might help. Spewing tons of sulfur (a pollutant) into the atmosphere to provide cooling by deflecting sunlight would obviously increase the acid rain issue. Compounds of sulfur are primary targets of emissions from automobiles and coal power plants.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sat, 04 Jul 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Independence: Jefferson&#8217;s Declaration Was an Appeal to the Heart</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-FOURTH04_20090702-181203/277670/</link>
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This morning, on Independence Day, Americans will turn on their televisions or radios and hear Thomas Jefferson&#8217;s ringing affirmation of human dignity: &#8220;We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.&#8220;           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sat, 04 Jul 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Fourth Of July: A Holiday Dialogue Between Dude and Uncle Sam</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/columnists/article/ED-ROSS03_20090702-182004/277678/</link>
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ROSS MACKENZIE Times-Dispatch Columnist A4th of July conversation between Dude&#8212;a teenager&#8212;and his Uncle Sam . . . Yo, Uncle. Wasup? Good morning, Dude. What am I doing? I&#8217;m getting into my suit for the parade. What&#8217;re you gonna be in a parade for? They gonna have a lot of hot chicks and cool floats? I don&#8217;t know about that, Dude. But I do know there will be many military people and ordinary citizens&#8212;and brass bands playing Sousa marches and songs about America. It&#8217;s our annual celebration of independence and liberty.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Oldest Profession: Don&#8217;t Stop</title>
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As its reputation suggests, the world&#8217;s oldest profession figures to be with us for a while. Reports that arrests for prostitution in Central Virginia have not wiped out the practice do not surprise. The relatively steady incidence of arrests does not argue for relaxation of the law or its enforcement, either. Activity along certain notorious corridors would be far greater if police did not routinely patrol the areas and launch undercover operations. Enforcement makes a difference. Prostitution belongs to the category of vice that moves around. Some years ago, blocks on West Grace resembled New York&#8217;s infamous Minnesota Strip. They are quieter now. That the trade has moved elsewhere does not mean the sweeps should not have occurred. Residents and businesses are happy they did. (The Minnesota Strip has been cleaned up, too.)           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Sacred, Profane: Icons</title>
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Obituaries identified Michael Jackson as an icon. Stories called a certain poster of Farrah Fawcett iconic. What is an icon, pray tell? In the popular sense, icon refers to just about everything a baby boomer liked during youth and arrested adolescence. The New York Times seemingly cites icons several hundred times a day. We have had iconic burgers, iconic commercials, iconic sodas, iconic movies, iconic cartoons, iconic television series, iconic songs, iconic jingles, and on and on.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Critical Incidents: Seminar Responds to First Responders&#8217; Need for Healing</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-EVANS03_20090702-182004/277675/</link>
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ALEX EVANS Guest Columnist Police officers. When we drive past them on the street, we quickly check our speed and hope that we are not violating the speed limit. When we see them with their crisp uniforms and heavy belts with guns and other gear, we appreciate their presence and commitment but tend to pass them with minimal notice. We know they are not paid enough for the work they do. We acknowledge the danger in their daily life: They run toward trouble when we instinctively run away. We clearly affirm their importance for civility and safety in the community. We appreciate their devotion.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Letters to the Editor: Multiple Income Streams Ease Cash Flow Pain</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-DECKER3_20090702-182004/277674/</link>
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Multiple Income Streams Ease Cash Flow Pain Editor, Times-Dispatch: The recent article, &#8220;Museum Official: Fundraising Slow&#8212;Confederate Director Still Backs Expansion Beyond Richmond,&#8220; demonstrates as never before the importance of interagency cooperation and the need for multilateral, cross-interest fundraising efforts on the part of nonprofit entities.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Correspondent of the Day: Notes Say &#8216;I Care,&#8220; Hand&#45;Written or Not</title>
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Notes Say &#8216;I Care,&#8216; Hand-Written or Not Editor, Times-Dispatch Correspondent of the Day Cecil Johnson, &#8220;Hand-Written Notes Show Old-Fashioned Love,&#8220; lamented the lack, apparently, of people who hand-write their expressions of love, sympathy, and gratitude, choosing instead from a wide array of pre-written cards.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Richmond Baseball: Scorecard</title>
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You can&#8217;t tell the players without a scorecard? Heck, in Richmond you can&#8217;t tell the stadium proposals without one. An RT-D First appearing in yesterday&#8217;s editions reported that a property-owner is &#8220;pitching&#8221; Manchester as a site for a new ballpark. The area has visual appeal. Fans would be able to look across the James and see Richmond&#8217;s skyline, which is seen to its best advantage from the south.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Information Technologies: Investigate</title>
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A definitive judgment regarding the state&#8217;s information technology program must await the completion of a thorough report. We have confidence in the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission. When Lemuel Stewart was ousted as head of the Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA), we endorsed an investigation to clear the air. Stewart had raised questions regarding Northrop Grumman, the private company contracted to operate the state government&#8217;s information system. If the circumstances of Stewart&#8217;s departure did not necessarily flunk the smell test, then they did not necessarily pass it, either. A test is warranted.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Reticence and Revolution: On Bush I&#8217;s &#8216;Prudent&#8217; Management of Cold War Events</title>
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ROBERT A. STRONG Guest Columnist LEXINGTON Republican critics of President Barack Obama&#8217;s low-key response to the unfolding events in Iran are fond of saying that this president should be more like Ronald Reagan who, when the Cold War was winding down, railed against &#8220;the evil empire&#8221; and boldly told Mr. Gorbachev to tear down the wall that separated East and West Berlin. There is no question that President Reagan was a rhetorical cold warrior of the highest order, but he was not actually our chief executive when the political revolutions in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union came to full fruition.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Transportation Overhaul: Federal Highway Bill Is Drunk With Power</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-LONG02_20090701-180204/277375/</link>
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SARAH LONGWELL Guest Columnist WASHINGTON Two weeks ago the House Transportation Committee unveiled the details of its six-year, $450 billion overhaul known as the Highway Bill. Buried in the blueprints, not surprisingly, are some generous handouts for special interests. One such favor is a provision that would require a controversial sentencing requirement for low-level, first-time DUI offenders: ignition interlocks. These in-car breathalyzers prevent a vehicle from starting if its driver&#8217;s breath registers above a pre-set blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) limit. Because they are so expensive, intrusive, and prone to technical failures, this penalty has typically been reserved for the most extreme DUI offenders.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Letters To The Editor: Insurance Companies Will Suffer the Greatest</title>
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Insurance Companies Will Suffer the Most Editor, Times-Dispatch: President Barack Obama and the Democrats aren&#8217;t tired of spending money we don&#8217;t have. While the United States has the best health care system in the world, they propose health care reform that by their own estimates will cost $1.2 trillion to $2 trillion. Not only is the cost astronomical; during a time when even Obama says we&#8217;re broke, this proposal could make our health care system worse.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Correspondent of the day: Closing Rest Areas Endangers Driving Public</title>
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Closing Rest Areas Endangers Driving Public Editor, Times-Dispatch: Virginia is missing the point when it closes rest areas around the state. The rest area is as much for interstate safety as it is for saving money. (Remember when the state closed DMV offices a few years ago? It didn&#8217;t work.) The rest areas are needed for drivers who are tired and need a place to rest and a restroom. How many drivers every year fall asleep at the wheel? Does the state need to raise that percentage?           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Baseball Books: Two Homers</title>
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The Braves play in Gwinnett, but this is no lament. A recent Times-Dispatch Public Square focused on a stadium in Shockoe Bottom. Today this space discusses baseball books. We endorse two new ones.   Michael D&#8217;Antonio&#8217;s Forever Blue relates &#8220;the true story of Walter O&#8217;Malley, baseball&#8217;s most controversial owner, and the Dodgers of Brooklyn and Los Angeles.&#8220; Revisionism is not limited to the histories of nations or to political biography. Forever Blue corrects the image of O&#8217;Malley as the villain who betrayed Brooklyn, the city&#8217;s most romanticized borough. Although O&#8217;Malley was not a victim by any means, he tried to stay but Robert Moses&#8212;New York&#8217;s controversial parks director&#8212;thwarted his plans.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Madoff Case: Act Gives Fraud Victims a Voice</title>
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JAYNE BARNARD Guest Columnist WILLIAMSBURG On Monday in a crowded courtroom in New York City, nine citizens stood up and told the story of how Bernard Madoff had hurt them and their families. Judge Denny Chin listened respectfully to those sto ries and recited some of them back as he entered the historic 150-year sentence. Some of the victims&#8217; comments were almost literary (&#8220;Last year, my mother died. Now I don&#8217;t have my mother or my money.&#8220;)           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Letters to the Editor: Hit the Ground Running Or Simply Running Blind?</title>
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Hit the Ground Running Or Simply Run Blind? Editor, Times-Dispatch: Today the Richmond City Council will vote on the mayor&#8217;s only choice for chief accounting officer (CAO), Byron C. Marshall. There is some controversy around Marshall&#8217;s degree from Syracuse University, a terminated contract in Durham, and consulting work done for Austin, Texas, while he was CAO in Atlanta. He resigned as Atlanta&#8217;s CAO related to that controversy.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:01:57 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>On Race, the Slog Goes On</title>
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WASHINGTON Although New Haven&#8217;s firefighters deservedly won in the Supreme Court, it is deeply depressing that they won narrowly&#8212;5-4. The egregious behavior by that city&#8217;s government, in a context of racial rabble-rousing, did not seem legally suspect to even one of the court&#8217;s four liberals, whose harmony seemed to reflect result-oriented rather than law-driven reasoning.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Tweet Nothings</title>
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A lot of gushy talk has washed over the falls about the powerful effect of social media on the situation in Iran. Major cable networks&#8212;and millions of individuals&#8212;have followed developments there through the micro-blogging site Twitter. Certainly, no one should underestimate the value of Twitter and similar services. They are powerful tools, and their utility in the rapid dissemination of news reaffirms the oft-repeated statement that information wants to be free.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Public, Private</title>
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Public officials have private lives. The public itself should respect that privacy. Private activities are not necessarily created equal, however. Attendance at a child&#8217;s spelling bee or soccer match is one thing. Attendance at a partisan fundraiser is another. Tim Kaine&#8217;s day job (governor of Virginia) and his night job (chairman of the Democratic National Committee) share a significant public component. The party chairmanship has implications for policy and for politics that would not exist if Kaine served as chairman of a Bugle Corps and Chowder Society. Kaine has said his duties as chairman create contacts with the potential to benefit the commonwealth&#8212;which means the job involves the state&#8217;s business, which means travels and meetings involving the DNC belong on the official schedule.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>New Haven Firefighters: Content Wins</title>
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The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling, has sided with time-honored American values of merit and equal protection. The high-profile case, Ricci v. Destefano, involved New Haven firefighters who, after earning high scores on a promotion exam, saw the city throw out the results because of the color of their skin. Because only whites and Hispanics (and no blacks) scored high enough on the test to be promoted, the city opted for the politically correct route and refused to certify the results. While New Haven&#8217;s efforts to promote more diversity in its fire department were admirable, good intentions do not excuse the city&#8217;s blatantly race-based decision.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Listening: In Search of the True Self</title>
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Here at the age of 39, I began to be old,&#8220; says Charles Ryder as his revisit to Brideshead begins. For others, self-awareness arrives sooner or later, more or less. There are young fogies as well as old. Most learn age&#8217;s lessons only to forget or ignore them. Often indeed we need to remind ourselves of our true selves. The gatekeeper at Boston&#8217;s Museum of Fine Arts issues a ticket to a Richmonder and the price includes the senior discount, which the traveler neither requests nor is asked whether the rate applies. The mirror says he does not look a day past 90. Later that evening, during a stroll near Harvard, in an evening turning from sultry to soft, a twentysomething calls out, &#8220;Hey, Grandpa.&#8220; Ours is not to reason why.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Correspondent of the Day: An Aureate Stab At Antediluvian Prose</title>
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An Aureate Stab At Antediluvian Prose Editor, Times-Dispatch: Keeping in the same vein as the Carey Orr political cartoon from the Chicago Tribune which you ran recently, a veteran political writer of that same period might predict that the upcoming debate on socialized health care will probably become a callithump of snollygosters absorbed in their own magniloquent rodomontade.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>CORRESPONDENT OF THE DAY</title>
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Day of Remembrance Is Time of Solitude Editor, Times-Dispatch: While I applaud the tenor of your editorial, &#8220;Liberty Bells: Let Freedom Ring!&#8220; regarding appropriately honoring the Fourth of July, your point about a moment of silence on Israel&#8217;s independence day is incorrect. Israel, as a nation, takes a moment of silence on both Holocaust Remembrance Day and the Day of Remembrance for the fallen soldiers in Israel&#8217;s wars. The Day of Remembrance falls prior to Independence Day.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:01:32 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Sins of Emmission</title>
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi might or might not fancy herself an admirer of Thomas Jefferson, but she clearly does not share his belief that great innovations should not be forced on slender majorities. Despite strenuous efforts on behalf of a cause she fervently advocates, she could barely muster enough votes to ram through the Waxman-Markey energy bill&#8212;a 1,200-page leviathan of ludicrous complexity and scope.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Letters To The Editor</title>
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Lohmann Column Delights and Inspires Editor, Times-Dispatch: What a treat and delight to read Bill Lohmann&#8217;s column. He is a gem. His stories and writing always bring a smile and move the heart. Lohmann captures the essence of what truly is wonderful in the world and introduces us to people who inspire. His accounts are well-written with humor and honesty and connect the reader as a friend.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>We&#8217;ll Likely Regret This &#8216;Fix&#8217;</title>
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WASHINGTON In the beginning,&#8220; says a character in a Peter De Vries novel, &#8220;the earth was without form and void. Why didn&#8217;t they leave well enough alone?&#8220; When Washington is finished improving health care, Ame ricans may be asking the same thing. Certainly the debate will compel them to think more clearly about this subject. Most Americans do want different health care: They want 2009 medicine at 1960 prices. Americans spent much less on health care in 1960 (5 percent of GDP as opposed to 18 percent now). They also spent much less&#8212;nothing, in fact&#8212;on computers, cell phones, and cable and satellite television.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:01:58 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Crime: Credit and Blame</title>
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One thing seems clear from the thrust of comments by public officials and others in a recent news article about a crime spike in Richmond: It&#8217;s not their fault. Blame lies squarely with the desperation arising out of hard economic times. Drugs and the economy are the problem. Maybe so. Still, that&#8217;s a different tune than you hear when crime is going down. Just a few months ago, one local law-enforcement leader boasted that &#8220;through a lot of regional cooperation and good police work we were able to keep . . . crime lower.&#8220; Last year, officials quoted in an article about the downward trend in city homicides cited tougher prosecutions, the mayor&#8217;s campaign against blight, and a willingness to testify among citizens who had grown weary of bloodshed.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:01:53 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>The President: Mr. Modest</title>
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In the first six months of his presidency, President Obama has essentially nationalized two major American car companies, promised to revolutionize the energy sector, and launched the largest overhaul of health care in a generation or more. Arguing for his economic stimulus proposals earlier this year, the president warned that the failure to pass them could bring about economic catastrophe. Yet when he appeared before the American Medical Association the other day, Obama called those who aren&#8217;t quite ready to embrace his ideas for health care &#8220;fear-mongers&#8221; who use &#8220;fear tactics.&#8220;           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:01:43 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Hating the West &#45; No Joke</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-JOKE29_20090628-165403/276915/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
While watching CNN coverage of an anti-Ahmadinejad demonstration in Iran, we saw a protestor waving a poster whose message screamed, &#8220;Down With Britain.&#8220; While direct criticism of Ahmadinejad and the religious powers behind him might put a person at risk of prison or execution, blaming John Bull for Iran&#8217;s dubious elections seems something of a stretch.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:01:41 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Economic Leadership: U.S. Financial Standing Damages Foreign Policy</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-NUECHOP29_20090628-165403/276918/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
CHARLOTTESVILLEAfew months ago the director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair, told Congress that instability in many countries caused by the global economic crisis was the primary near-term security threat to the United States. He added that many countries were questioning America&#8217;s economic and financial leadership of the world. Two important countries that question U.S. economic and financial leadership are China and Germany.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:01:36 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>We Really Don&#8217;t Know Where Next Crisis Will Come From</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-SAMUEL29_20090628-165403/276919/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
WASHINGTON Since its earliest days, the United States has suffered periodic financial crises. The first dates to 1792. In the 19th century, bank panics occurred regularly. Then, of course, came the great stock market crash of 1929 and the failure of two-fifths of the nation&#8217;s banks in the Great Depression. Now we&#8217;re in the midst of another crisis. It would be reassuring to think that the Obama administration&#8217;s financial &#8220;reforms&#8221;&#8212;or, indeed, any conceivable alternative&#8212;would prevent these collapses for all time. Dream on.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:01:35 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Iran: A Start?</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-IRAN29_20090628-165403/276914/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
The Iranian regime probably will survive; Mahmoud Ahmadinejad probably will remain president. But something big may have begun. The consequences might not grow apparent for many years. Analyses of international media suggest that newspapers and television stations in Islamic countries have not given massive coverage to Iran&#8217;s election and its aftermath. A story that has commanded space and time in the United States has received relatively little of either in the Arab press.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:01:13 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Events in Iran Bode Ill for Democracy</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-GASKINL29_20090628-165403/276913/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Editor, Times-Dispatch: As I watch the events in Iran unfold, I am disturbed. Not with the political posturing&#8212;that is an inherent by-product of the political process&#8212;but rather the deconstruction of a democratic society before our eyes. The original election was supposed to take place in a 24-hour period. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not expect the turnout at the polls or the thronging of the ex-pats to the international polling places.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:01:04 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Letters To The Editor</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/article/ED-LAYTONR29_20090628-165403/276916/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Ex-Con Still Has Some Explaining to Do Editor, Times-Dispatch: Your recent news story, &#8220;El-Amin Joins Ballpark Debate,&#8220; is a secondary story at best. As a taxpaying reader I don&#8217;t want to know what Sa&#8217;ad El-Amin thinks about anything until it is reported how much of the $700,000 restitution obligation he has repaid.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>High&#45;speed rail: Rebirth of Intercity Passenger Service</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/commentary/article/ED-BOARDMAN628_20090626-220003/276636/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
These are exciting and historic times to be in the passenger railroad business. Passenger rail in the U.S. is on the verge of a renaissance and we must seize this opportunity to fully realize its potential. Those of us at Amtrak, and many other supporters around the country, now truly have a chance to provide Virginians and the rest of America with a fresh and effective approach to meeting their transportation needs.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:01:56 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Correspondent of the Day</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-ELLERSON28_20090626-215805/276629/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Editor, Times-Dispatch: I generally agree with the conclusions and recommendations of Heywood Fralin and Thomas Farrell in their Commentary column, &#8220;We Must Upgrade Virginia&#8217;s Colleges and Universities,&#8220; about state support of higher education. I specifically agree that the number of persons schooled in math, science, engineering, health care, and other technical disciplines should be a state priority.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:01:53 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Side Effects</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-SOLS28_20090626-215805/276634/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Side Effects Virginia legislators are understandably concerned about a recent, and now repudiated, proposal to do away with the history portion of the Standards of Learning for the third grade. (Earlier editorials discussed the particulars at length. Elswhere in today&#8217;s Commentary section we reprint a letter from former gov. George Allen on the subject.)           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:01:48 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>FROM THE NEWSROOM: What does freedom mean to you?</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/commentary/article/NV-VIEW28_20090626-220003/276639/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
 With the Fourth of July less than a week away, most of you no doubt have plans to spend time with family and friends. Maybe you plan to catch some spectacular fireworks or host a cookout in your backyard. Whatever your plans, when you gather, what will you talk about? Will you catch up on what your neighbors have been doing since the last community cookout? Or whether you can afford a trip to the beach this year? Or how good Aunt Dot&#8217;s potato salad tastes year after year?           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:01:47 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Virginia Must Lead the Teaching of America&#8217;s History</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/commentary/article/ED-ALLEN628_20090626-215805/276628/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Former Gov. George Allen, whose administration played the essential role in establishing the SOLs, wrote a letter in support of the history test to Mark Emblidge, president of the Virginia Board of Education. While the third-grade history test appears safe, at least for the moment, we decided to publish Allen&#8217;s June 19 letter, with his permission, because it is such an eloquent reminder of both the value of SOLs and the importance of teaching history to even&#8212;perhaps especially&#8212;the youngest Virginians.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:01:46 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>High&#45;Speed Rail: A Tremendous Economic Opportunity</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/commentary/article/ED-RHODES628_20090626-220003/276638/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Reasonable people certainly disagree over what impact the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) will have on our country&#8217;s economy. Disagreements also abound about some of the items included in the act, with the most high profile of those contests over expansion of unemployment benefits having played out in the General Assembly&#8217;s recent reconvened session.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:01:45 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>It&#8217;s For Time Localities to Stop Acting Like Nation&#45;States</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/commentary/article/ED-MOESER628_20090626-220003/276637/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
What will it take for cities and suburban counties in the Commonwealth of Virginia to make common cause, put aside their differences and petty jealousies, and work together to resolve major issues? The answer won&#8217;t be found in another study. In the space of 10 years, we&#8217;ve had seven studies of one kind or another by some state-level urban task force or special commission. The result? Cities still face the same problems. So do the fast-growing counties. State laws and regulations continue to strip both types of localities of any flexibility in resolving many of their problems.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:01:43 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Good Friends</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-HUGO28_20090626-215805/276630/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
During an April meeting of leaders from various countries in the Americas, President Barack Obama warmly, and very visibly, shook the hand of Hugo Chavez, Venezuela&#8217;s supremo for life, or for as long as he wants to be. Chavez gave Obama a book of anti-U.S. rants. The White House cautioned the administration did not expect gestures such as handshakes to change Chavez&#8217;s hostile attitudes and behavior. Nevertheless, critics argued that the high-profile nature of the Obama-Chavez exchange elevated Chavez&#8217;s international image.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:01:41 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Your 2 Cents</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/commentary/article/ED-2CENTS28_20090626-215805/276627/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Gov. Mark Sanford, Sens. John Ensign, David Vitter, and Larry Craig&#8212;please remind me again why the GOP can claim to be the party of family values?&#8212;Greg Wilmoth, Chesterfield   . . .  I&#8217;ll provide the Windex if that will solve the &#8220;transparency&#8221; problems.&#8212;Jim Petty, Midlothia   . . .            ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:01:37 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Letters to the editor</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-LID28_20090626-215805/276632/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
A Round of Applause For New Ha&#8217;Penny Stage Editor, Times-Dispatch: What a pleasant surprise to see the new Ha&#8217;Penny Stage in Byrd Park. We went to an afternoon performance celebrating Chinese culture, which was superb. The new stage is higher so one can see better and the backdrop is high enough that performers can stage themselves without being seen. Simple concepts, but they add tremendously to the audience&#8217;s enjoyment.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:01:32 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Land&#45;Use Plan: Henrico Doesn&#8217;t Intend to Pave Over Varina</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-HAZE28_20090626-215602/276623/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
The Henrico County Board of Supervisors held a public hearing June 9 to obtain additional input on the county&#8217;s proposed 2026 Comprehensive Plan. Of the 35 community members who addressed the board, the majority focused on the overall theme of growth and its perceived impact, especially to the Varina District in eastern Henrico. While it is important to address some of the issues raised at the public hearing and highlight relevant aspects of the plan, the intention is not to refute or diminish the concerns of Henrico residents, but rather to clarify certain facts and present a more balanced picture.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:01:31 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>RIGHTING A WRONG</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-JACK28_20090626-215805/276631/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Jack Johnson won the heavyweight championship in 1908, and promptly became not a hero but the most hated man in the United States. Johnson was an African-American, you see, and he had the temerity to defeat a white boxer in the land of self-evident truths and inalienable rights. His victory prompted race riots, as whites waded into black neighborhoods, attacking anyone who happened in their way. Many Americans associate race riots with visions of ghettos in flames. The first race rights featured whites falling upon blacks.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:01:19 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Random Walk: On Gaza, Gitmo, Kafisi, Moderates, Etc.</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-ROSS28_20090626-215602/276624/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Brief comments on a variety of topics currently in the news . . . .   With the Obama administration springing Guantanamo-housed terrorists and, e.g., funding Hamas-dominated Gaza to the tune of $900 million (etc.), how far we have come from George Bush&#8217;s admonition: &#8220;Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists.&#8220;           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:01:18 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Don&#8217;t Cover Our Melting Pot With Slimy Fruit Salad</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/commentary/article/ED-BERES628_20090626-220003/276635/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
My husband and I recently met a new VCU graduate. The young man is a native of southern Sudan and one of the Lost Boys. Today he is an American citizen and a registered voter, eager for his voice to be heard. The story of the Lost Boys of Sudan is an incredible tale of suffering and human endurance. During the Sudanese civil war (1983-2005) nearly 30,000 children were orphaned or displaced when Islamist government forces descended upon and brutally wiped out Christian villages in southern Sudan. Young boys were able to escape into surrounding jungles. Others were away tending crops or herds when the pillaging occurred. Sadly, their sisters were rarely so fortunate.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:01:17 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Health Care Reform: U.S. Needs More Options for Seniors</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-WARNER28_20090626-215602/276625/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
All of us can agree that our current health care system is in need of fundamental reforms that will expand access, improve quality, and increase value. As Congress prepares to spend a long, hot summer working to find bipartisan agreement on many proposed reforms, it is important that we also have a discussion about one area of health care reform that makes many of us uncomfortable: the care that we provide to our seniors and others with life-limiting illnesses.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:01:15 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Expect A Very Competitive Race for Governor</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/commentary/article/ED-SABATO628_20090626-215805/276633/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
People who live for politics appreciate what real votes in real elections mean. It&#8217;s pure heroin for junkies. Six months after a president is chosen, the political community has the shakes. And that is why New Jersey&#8217;s and Virginia&#8217;s contests for governor always assume a larger role than their actual importance merits. Here we are in the off-off year again, and sure enough, the statehouse battles in the Garden State and the Old Dominion are the focus of a surprising degree of attention.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:01:10 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>The Week in Review</title>
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WEEK&#8217;S END  Will the last potential GOP contender for 2012 to commit adultery please turn out the lights?&nbsp; The fellow at the next desk quips that, at this rate, Sarah Palin will win the 2012 presidential nomination by default, because all the Republican men have girlfriends . . . .Unless, of course, it turns out that she does, too. On Thursday a bunch of folks&#8212;including some from Richmond&#8212;rallied in D.C. to demand government health care. Noticeably absent from news coverage of the event was the insinuation, frequently leveled at April&#8217;s Tax Day Tea Parties, that the whole supposedly grassroots shebang was mere agitprop whipped up by powerful interests in Washington.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Social Services: Transforming Child Welfare in Virginia</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-RATKE27_20090626-175602/276564/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Imagine if you could no longer care for your children and they had to leave your home and be separated from one another. You would want your kids to be in a safe home, close to school and friends, with plenty of support as they adjusted to a new family. But for nearly 7,000 children in Virginia&#8217;s foster care system who have been separated from their families, these things have never been guaranteed.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Letters To The Editor</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/article/ED-MARTINE27_20090626-175602/276563/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
No Longer a Consensus On Global Warming Editor, Times-Dispatch: A recent Op/Ed by a true believer in the church of global warming proposed ways to fix the problem through geo-engineering. With many hundreds of actual climate scientists and many thousands of scientists in general pointing out that human activities have virtually no effect on global warming and also pointing out that most measures of the Earth&#8217;s actual temperature show it to be decreasing for the past nine years, it would seem reasonable to see columns by such scientists defending their reasoning&#8212;perhaps even some of the original scientists of the IPCC who have changed their minds on this.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Iran: Desperately Seeking Yeltsin</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-KRAUT27_20090626-175602/276562/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
WASHINGTON Iran today is a revolution in search of its Yeltsin. Without leadership, demonstrators will take to the street only so many times to face tear gas, batons, and bullets. They need a leader like Boris Yeltsin: a former es tablishment figure with newly revolutionary credentials and legitimacy, who stands on a tank and gives the opposition direction by calling for the unthinkable&#8212;the abolition of the old political order.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Consider Journalism In the Twitter Era</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-GOOD27_20090626-175602/276561/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
BOSTON From time to time, a message pops into my e-mail announcing that someone is &#8220;Following You On Twitter.&#8220; In fact, I don&#8217;t go anywhere on Twitter, having signed up just to get squatter&#8217;s rights to my own name. I have enough trouble limiting my thoughts to 750 words let alone 140 characters. Twittering is just frittering. Or so I thought before Iran.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Pet Fall Pratfall</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-FALLS27_20090626-175602/276560/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Science: Pet Fall Pratfall This just in, courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control: People trip over their pets. About 86,000 Americans go to the emergency room each year because their pets or their pets&#8217; paraphernalia caused them to fall down, the CDC reports. About a third of the falls cause a broken bone, a quarter cause bruising, and a fifth cause cuts.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Letters To The Editor</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/article/ED-BROWNING27_20090626-175602/276559/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Voting Records Define Politicians&#8217; Real Plans Editor, Times-Dispatch: In the editorial, &#8220;Mud Pies,&#8220; you bemoan the mudslinging that has already begun in the Virginia gubernatorial campaign. As one example of this tactic, you cite GOP leader Pat Mullins&#8217; statement that &#8220;in the days ahead we will be fully discussing his [Creigh Deeds&#8217;] voting record over the past four years and his sharp veer to the left.&#8220; And since when, pray tell, did a discussion of a politician&#8217;s voting record become dirty pool?           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>City Audits: Fiction and Fact</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-AUDIT27_20090626-175602/276558/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Here&#8217;s a headline we&#8217;d dearly love to see: &#8220;Auditor Praises City Operations; &#8216;Absolutely Flawless,&#8216; Review Concludes.&#8220; Unfortunately, ongoing scrutiny of Richmond governance continues to find much in need of redress. The latest audit, of the school system&#8217;s human resources and payroll operations, has produced dismaying but far-from-surprising results: overpayments, poor bookkeeping, goldbricking, and so on.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Letters To The Editor: Editorial Treated War as Afterthought</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-RAWLSW26_20090625-174402/276367/</link>
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Editorial Treated War as Afterthought Editor, Times-Dispatch: In your lead editorial, &#8220;Civic Spirit: History, Arts, Sports,&#8220; you made the excellent point that Richmond&#8217;s unparalleled array of cultural attractions has us well-placed in the major league of cities and distinguishes us far more than minor-league baseball. And, much to your credit, you proceed to list many of the city&#8217;s greatest attractions.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Rebirth</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-PARK26_20090625-174402/276366/</link>
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The rains came. In 2006, Tropical Storm Ernesto pounded Central Virginia. Waters rose. Battery Park in North Richmond suffered extreme damage. An urban oasis was transformed into an eyesore that attracted snakes and rats. The neighborhood lost a source of recreation and pride. Yet despite its frustration with the restoration process, the community never stopped fighting for its cause.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Correspondent of the Day: Despite Little Progress, Fight Must Continue</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-OHARAK26_20090625-174402/276365/</link>
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Despite Little Progress, Fight Must Continue Editor, Times-Dispatch: In a recent news article, &#8220;Police Wage Constant Fight to Curb Prostitution,&#8220; regarding prostitution arrests in the metro area, VCU professor Jay S. Albanese says, &#8220;Obviously, if there were a deterrent effect, there would be a declining number of arrests.&#8220; I am sure that this was extracted from a longer comment. However, as written it raises the serious question: If we&#8217;re not making any progress here, why even bother?           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Examples</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-MEMS26_20090625-174402/276364/</link>
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Dick Cheney has signed a million-dollar contract to write his memoirs. The blogs are having fun. Bill Clinton wrote his memoirs. Hillary Clinton wrote her memoirs. Although George H.W. Bush has not written formal memoirs, he has written books about policy and his role in making it. Ronald Reagan wrote his memoirs. Jimmy Carter has written several books, some with a subject best described as himself. Richard Nixon wrote several memoirs, and rates as the finest presidential memoirist of the lot.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Economy: Post Hoc</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-ECONOMY26_20090625-174402/276363/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
It&#8217;s too soon for laymen to say whether that light at the end of the tunnel is daylight or an oncoming freight train. But at least some economists&#8212;including Richmond Fed chairman Jeffrey Lacker&#8212;are coming around to the view that the recession is easing. If the economy does bounce back quickly, look out. Washington is bound to take the credit&#8212;and to draw dangerous conclusions.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Greens Won&#8217;t Be Dissuaded by Spain&#8217;s Energy Saga</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-WILL25_20090625-174202/276362/</link>
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WASHINGTON The Spanish professor is puzzled. Why, Gabriel Calzada wonders, is the U.S. president recommending that America emulate the Spanish model for creating &#8220;green jobs&#8221; in &#8220;alternative energy&#8221; even though Spain&#8217;s unemployment rate is 18.1 percent&#8212;more than double the European Union average&#8212;partly because of spending on such jobs?           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Please Cry for Me, South Carolina</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-PARKER26_20090625-174202/276361/</link>
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WASHINGTON Awise man once said that love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence. No one who managed to get through the torture of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford&#8217;s news conference ad mitting to an affair would disagree. Yes, I know, shocking. Another Republican affair. Next thing you know, we&#8217;ll learn that a Democrat hasn&#8217;t paid his taxes. There does seem to be a pattern of failure in those matters about which people purport to care the most.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Armed Citizens: Both Left and Right Could Use Second Amendment Refresher</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/columnists/article/ED-HINKLE26_20090625-174202/276360/</link>
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There is always the danger that those inclined toward violence will incorporate it into their twisted worldview,&#8220; writes Bob Herbert of The New York Times in a recent column about right-wing ex tremism. Herbert has joined a chorus of liberal commentators who see a connection between (a) incidents such as the murder of abortion doctor George Tiller and James von Brunn&#8217;s attack at the Holocaust Museum and (b) the anti-government rhetoric issuing from conservative sources such as the National Rifle Association, talk-show host Glenn Beck, and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>CORRESPONDENT OF THE DAY</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/article/SEALYJ_20090624-181005/276094/</link>
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Cheap Degrees Don&#8217;t Elevate Work Skills Editor, Times-Dispatch: I&#8217;m suspicious of W. Heywood Fralin and Thomas F. Farrell II&#8217;s call for 70,000 more college degrees in the Commentary section. Certainly, no sane person could deny the importance of education for economic prosperity, and the authors do close by calling for investment in practical degree programs such as nursing or engineering.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:01:19 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Blessed or Cursed? Baby Boomers Frequently Unfairly Attacked</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-VIVAFIN25_20090624-181005/276093/</link>
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Last week Stephen Moore of The Wall Street Journal wrote a column titled, &#8220;This Boomer Isn&#8217;t Going to Apologize,&#8220; in response to an earlier report that &#8220;graduation ceremonies have become collective air ings of guilt and grief.&#8220; It&#8217;s now chic, he said, &#8220;for boomers to apologize for their generation&#8217;s crimes.&#8220; Moore was having none of it, and he made a provocative case that boomers have nothing to apologize for. He pointed out, &#8220;We&#8217;re the generation that spawned Microsoft, Intel, Apple, Google, ATMs, and Gatorade. We defeated the evils of communism and delivered the world from the brink of global thermonuclear war.&#8220;           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Letters To The Editor</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/article/ED-THOMASB25_20090624-181005/276092/</link>
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Global Warming Bill Is Economic Suicide Editor, Times-Dispatch: State Sen. Donald McEachin&#8217;s Commentary column, &#8220;House Bill Will Help the Environment and the Economy,&#8220; promoted extreme global warming legislation but failed to justify many of the ramifications. Americans can do a better job of protecting the environment, but bankrupting and starving our country are not valid ways to accomplish the goals.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Kill the Climate Bill: . . . It Will Destroy Jobs, Quality of Life</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-MURRAYOP25_20090624-181005/276091/</link>
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PEPPER PIKE, Ohio Perhaps the most destructive legislation in our country&#8217;s history will soon be voted on in the United States House of Representatives: the Waxman-Markey tax bill (named the American Clean Energy and Security Act, H.R.2454), in the guise of addressing climate change. It will have adverse and lingering consequences for every American. It will raise the cost of the electricity in our homes, the fuel for our cars, and the energy that produces our manufacturing jobs, with little or no environmental benefit.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Kill the Climate Bill: Legislation Ignores Critical Factors . . .</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-MEADFIN25_20090624-181005/276090/</link>
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COVINGTON The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote&#8212;possibly as early as tomorrow&#8212;on the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES Act, H.R. 2454). This bill is intended to ad dress the issue of global climate change by placing substantial restrictions on U.S. manufacturers, especially energy-intensive facilities such as MeadWestvaco&#8217;s Covington mill. The bill is seriously flawed, unfair, and would impose exorbitant costs on the American economy.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Governor&#8217;s Travels: Let&#8217;s See</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-FOIA25_20090624-181005/276089/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Tim Kaine holds down two high-profile posts. He serves not only as governor of Virginia but as chairman of the Democratic National Committee. When he accepted President Obama&#8217;s invitation to head the DNC, Kaine said he would not let his second job interfere with his first. Jim Gilmore attempted a similar balancing act when he became chairman of the Republican National Committee while still in the governorship. His RNC gig ended unhappily.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Election 2012: Already</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-ELEX25_20090624-181005/276088/</link>
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The next presidential election will not occur until 2012, but potential candidates already are committing consequential news. Republicans have lost two potential contenders, for instance. The admission of an affair dooms Nevada Sen. John Ensign. The news that he had been sweating around with an associate (who was the wife of an aide) broke soon after he had made one of those toe-dipping trips to a state with an early date on the nomination calendar. Support for Ensign in Nevada immediately collapsed. Although politicians have recovered from scandal before, Ensign&#8217;s career lies in ruins.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Letters to the Editor</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-GRIGNOLR24_20090623-180404/275810/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Change Virginia Law To Promote Fathers Editor, Times-Dispatch: Regarding Del. Bill Janis&#8217; recent Commentary column, &#8220;Success Requires Thousands of Fathers&#8221;: Janis is correct about the importance of fathers, but more is needed than marriage education. Virginia&#8217;s family law system incentivizes family breakup, fatherlessness, and marriage avoidance.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:01:37 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Voting Rights: A Conservative Ruling</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-VOTE24_20090623-180404/275812/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
The Supreme Court&#8217;s ruling on a key component of the Voting Rights Act shows how judicial conservatism can redound to the benefit of political liberalism. The case concerned a challenge to an extension of the requirement that various states and localities submit election-law changes to the federal government for review. The requirement means, for instance, that any time a locality in Virginia wants to move a polling place, it has to ask permission first. &#8220;Preclearance,&#8220; as it is called, explains why Richmond&#8217;s switch to a strongmayor system did not adopt a simple majority vote, but rather demands that a candidate win a majority in five of the city&#8217;s nine councilmanic districts. At the time, it was thought that a citywide, at-large system would not win Justice Department approval.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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          <title>Correspondent of the Day: Hand&#45;Written Notes Show Old&#45;Fashioned Love</title>
          <link>http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-JOHNSONC24_20090623-180404/275811/</link>
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Hand-Written Notes Show Old-Fashioned Love Editor, Times-Dispatch: Recently I strayed into one of those cavernous bookstores resembling an antiseptic neo-Pavlovian condition room with bright lights and white walls. What jumped out was a single row. I estimated it to be 54 feet long packed with hundreds of species of cards&#8212;the invention of psychological engineers and polished up by artists and wanna-be poets churning out private, random, gratuities of filial devotion. There were also countless cards for funerals, birthdays, graduation, get-well, weddings, and the consequences of weddings.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:01:00 EDT</pubDate>
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