February 2004 archives

View Archive

Sunday, February 29, 2004

Loser: Bush doesn’t have a chance

George Bush doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in Hades, to coin a phrase. Listening to the remaining candidates for the Democratic Party’s nomination for president, we learn that in only three years, George Bush not only created the “Axis...

Friday, February 27, 2004

Focus: Compilation of events fosters pride in Wayne

This is a wonderful place in many ways. You can’t read through today’s paper and reflect on the year just past without knowing that. We’re lucky to be here. Look at our economic situation, for instance. We have almost full...

Thursday, February 26, 2004

Nader: He gives us another choice. Not a good one, but a choice.

Most Democrats are coughing and choking and carrying on about Ralph Nader’s announcement that he will run for president as an independent. They fear that he will take votes from the Democratic candidate as he did in the last election...

Wednesday, February 25, 2004

Good bill

Md. congressman seeks to repeal McCain-Feingold Few laws if any have threatened the American people’s right to free speech as does the McCain-Feingold Act. Fortunately, a move is under way to cancel it. What makes the McCain-Feingold Act so ominous...

Tuesday, February 24, 2004

Bigotry: Professor tarnishes image of UNC-CH

Over the years, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — to its credit — has been second to none in championing freedom of thought and expression. In that noble role, the state’s flagship university not infrequently has found...

Monday, February 23, 2004

Jumping rope: Rules for charity event might need tweaking

Maybe you saw the story in the paper. The children who attend Eastern Wayne Middle School raised $11,000 for the American Heart Association. They did it by jumping rope. In order to jump, a child had to raise money for...

Sunday, February 22, 2004

Rumors: A good news medium goes astray on one story

Everyone has an occasional lapse in judgment, and that includes even the best of news organizations. The News-Argus certainly errs now and then. When you disagree with our judgment, you can correct us. You are invited to send us a...

Friday, February 20, 2004

Candidates: Better than what their critics say

Political campaigns can be enlightening, exciting, perplexing — even vitriolic. In the Democratic Party campaigns for the presidential nomination, candidates — with the exception of our John Edwards and Joe Lieberman — have slashed up each other unmercifully. Each has...

Thursday, February 19, 2004

Lucky guy: Nuclear dealer pardoned,and the U.S. goes along

Nothing, not even the London Symphony’s rendition of Beethoven’s Fifth, could look more orchestrated than the confession by Abdul Qadeer Khan and his subsequent pardon by President Musharraf of Pakistan. Khan is the scientist who is the father of the...

Wednesday, February 18, 2004

Deputy killer: This ‘kid’ obviously is an incorrigible

“Since turning 18 in July Matthew Charles Grant had been charged with at least nine felonies and eight misdemeanors — including breaking and entering and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.” That is from a newspaper account of the...

Tuesday, February 17, 2004

Robbery: Defense contractors beating the tax system

If a school system or municipality or any agency or organization receiving federal money doesn’t adhere strictly to guidelines, the government has a surefire way of bringing them into compliance. The magic words: “Cut off their federal money!” But somehow,...

Monday, February 16, 2004

Surprise witness: Colin Powell holds his own before congressional panel

Colin Powell is normally an easygoing man in public, calm under stress, deliberate, courteous and rational. Congressman Sherrod Brown obviously thought he could pull the secretary of state into a political controversy. Powell was testifying last week before the House...

Saturday, February 14, 2004

Dr. Atkins: His gaining of weight doesn’t discredit diet

Even doctors disagree on whether it would be healthy to stay on the low-carbohydrate Atkins Diet for a long time. But one thing is certain: There is no room in the debate for half-truths. No doubt, the diet promoted by...

Friday, February 13, 2004

Meeting of minds: Turnout is good for leaders’ workshop

There was a splendid turnout Monday for a meeting of governing boards in Wayne County. That the county’s decision-makers are talking to one another is good news. Occasionally they get out of the habit. Monday’s session in the offices of...

Wednesday, February 11, 2004

How does this sound? John Allen Farfour Municipal Tennis Courts

Public roads, bridges and other facilities usually should not be named in honor of living people. It is a practice that can get too political. Some jurisdictions won’t name a building, bridge or whatever after anyone who hasn’t been dead...

Tuesday, February 10, 2004

Trend? A little optimism about fiscal sanity

During this time between the first of the year and April 15, the deadline for coughing up our annual tribute to Big Government, there usually is little to make us smile when we think of taxes. We have just seen...

Monday, February 9, 2004

Surprise:Edwards’ vice presidential prospects looking brighter

Many North Carolinians scoffed when we began to notice the hints that Democratic Sen. John Edwards would try to be elected president. Our reaction to the news was much like that of Billy Carter of Plains, Ga., when told that...

Saturday, February 7, 2004

Marriage: we are losing sight of its role in society

Natural law provides that marriage is the union of a man and a woman. The traditional and practical purposes of marriage are to establish families, which are the nucleus of society, and the yielding of children to carry the society...

Friday, February 6, 2004

Old news: How should we react to site selectors’ rankings?

Those of us who were surprised by Wayne County’s good news this week shouldn’t have been. The good news was that the county’s magnetism is getting widespread recognition. Research by Expansion Magazine ranks Goldsboro 36th in the country in allure...

Thursday, February 5, 2004

School questions: The answers are difficult and won’t please everyone

There are more questions than answers about proposals to build new schools in Wayne County. For example: Should we build community schools, making schools and families parts of the same neighborhoods? Or would it be better to maintain bigger schools...

Wednesday, February 4, 2004

Accident? The evidence indicates that breast-baring was willful

Everyone involved in the outrageous occurrence during halftime at the Super Bowl claims it was an accident, not planned, not intentional. The evidence suggests otherwise. As you no doubt know, singer Janet Jackson’s right breast was exposed to millions of...

Tuesday, February 3, 2004

Common sense and sensibilities: Let’s reward excellence

There is a law in Tennessee that says schools can’t make public anything about a child’s grades or attendance. That means that, if schools abide strictly by the law, they can’t announce the honor roll. That little nugget of political...

Monday, February 2, 2004

The OLF issue: Have the options been considered?

Goldsboro’s late Mayor Scott B. Berkeley, a World War I pilot, properly is credited with the reactivation of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base half a century ago. In times of potential conflict or confusion, Berkeley liked to invoke an admonition...