When we lost the draft a generation ago, we lost a lot. We lost the ability to have a meaningful discussion about anything that involves the military. The Pentagon has begun significant call-ups for the next major rotation of troops in Iraq, but it has no realistic plan for covering our military and domestic security commitments without exhausting our reserve forces.
When Keiko the killer whale, star of the movie “Free Willy,” beached himself earlier this month in western Norway, the story of probably the most expensive animal in human history came to an end. By the time of Keiko’s death, seven years of effort and more than $20 million had been spent vainly - and unwisely - trying to return the whale to the wild.
The state water supply commission proposed by the Florida Council of 100 is a leaky dinghy getting swamped by a tempest. In its report, the private association recommended that Florida needs to have an overarching “water supply commission” that the council’s water taskforce chair, Lee Arnold, said would “plan, coordinate and advocate” water policies on “both sides of the I-4 corridor.”
Last week’s announcement that The Scripps Research Institute plans to establish a major research center in the state is exciting news not only for the state, but also for its universities.
Today’s expected selection of a new University of Florida president offers a rare opportunity for UF faculty and administration to heal a historically tense, often divided relationship. By working together, both groups have the opportunity to create a new culture at UF, one that considers and endeavors to meet the needs of everyone on campus in a climate of mutual trust and respect.
Can more than 69,000 people be killed and most of their deaths go unnoticed?
Commentators from the right and the left have derided the recall election of Gov. Gray Davis as a political debacle, calling it a three-ring circus. The latest act in the center ring-the order by the 11-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to hold the October 7 election as scheduled-has all but guaranteed that the election will occur as originally planned.
Wednesday’s murder of six people at Chicago’s Windy City Core Supply is the latest in a depressingly familiar string of reminders of this country’s greatest pathology — homicide. About 16,000 people will be murdered this year. Our homicide rate in 2001, the latest year for which nationwide figures are available, was 5.6 per 100,000, compared to only 1.6 in England and Wales. Other Western European nations exhibit similarly low levels of lethal violence.
American indifference to Iraqi society and values is proving calamitous. That’s because American authorities remain dismissive of Middle Eastern culture, in which the powerful and ancient code of honor determines behavior and ideals. That code fuels the enmity of our opponents throughout the Arab world. Yet Washington policymakers seem oblivious to Arab motivationn and how best to deal with resistance to American peacekeeping.