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Boycott movement boosted by Hawking withdrawal from Israeli academic conference

Sat, 25 May 2013 12:03:00 -0400

It is an event "of cosmic proportions", said one Palestinian academic, a befitting description of Stephen Hawking's decision to boycott an Israeli academic conference slated for next June. It was also a decisive moral call which was communicated by the Cambridge University, where Hawking is a professor, on May 8. Hawking is a world-renowned cosmologist and physicist. His scientific work had ...

Recall elections wrong tool for the job

Sun, 26 May 2013 03:52:22 -0400

Volunteer circulators watch a local soldier sign a petition to recall Senate President John Morse at a park in Colorado Sprinsg. (Joe Amon, The Denver Post) IPTC: COLORADO SPRINGS, CO. - May 16: Volunteer Circulators Pam Blaydes and her husband John Morgan watch local soldier Austin Hansen sign the petition to recall Senate President John Morse at a park and sing location at the corner of Uintah ...

Stop signs mean ‘stop’

Sun, 26 May 2013 02:50:28 -0400

I would like to know who changed the law!More and more, as I drive around Provo, I see people in complete disregard to stopping at stop signs. It seems the younger generation feel that if no one is coming, it is perfectly legal to make a right turn at a stop sign or a light without coming to a complete stop. I follow a teenager today coming out of Macy's that didn't even slow down for ...

Cheer for our war veterans

Sun, 26 May 2013 02:50:27 -0400

As I look out my window and see the rain I realize that summer is just around the corner, and what a great state we live in for summer activities. We have lakes, mountains, hiking trails, four wheeling trails, camping, and who could forget all of the great activities that the cities put on. As for the city of Provo, residents have a lot to look forward to with the amazing Stadium of Fire show, ...

Utah’s perfect game ninth grade championship

Sun, 26 May 2013 02:50:26 -0400

Spring in Utah County means baseball, and baseball is life; especially Spanish Fork baseball (ask Coach Jim "Shoe" Nelson). The Spanish Fork High School baseball program is known to excel. This excellence must start somewhere. I know where the tradition begins. It starts with the ninth grade team. For the past three years, this age group has excelled in the Utah's Perfect Game ...

Letter C02 bad Prove it.

Sun, 26 May 2013 02:48:57 -0400

A misleading article features a report from the U.S. Energy Information Association on carbon dioxide emissions ("Analysis shows where Utah stands with greenhouse gas emissions," May 14). By reporting their senseless attempts at "measuring" (guessing) such information and then falsely reporting it as "greenhouse gas emissions" is unconscionable news reporting. It is ...

Letter Tornado global warming

Sun, 26 May 2013 02:48:57 -0400

Abby Cotten sorts through the tornado-ravaged home she shared with her parents Saturday, May 25, 2013, in Moore, Okla. Cleanup continues after a huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb Monday, flattening a wide swath of homes and businesses. (AP Photo/Charlie ...

Charles Krauthammer IRS scandal was more than bad customer sevice

Sun, 26 May 2013 02:48:55 -0400

IRS official Lois Lerner is sworn in during an Oversight Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 22, 2013, to investigate the extra scrutiny IRS gave to Tea Party and other conservative groups that applied for tax-exempt status. Lerner told the committee she did nothing wrong and then invoked her constitutional right to not answer lawmakers' questions. (AP ...

Michael Gonzalez Yes free speech is hurt when news bans offensive words

Sun, 26 May 2013 02:48:55 -0400

WASHINGTON — "The decline of a language must ultimately have political and economic causes," George Orwell wrote in "Politics and the English Language," a prescient 1946 essay that anticipated the political correctness that would befall the English language half a century later. Sure enough, The Associated Press has banned "Islamic terrorist" and, more ...

Peter W. Singer Finally Obama breaks his silence on drones

Sun, 26 May 2013 02:48:54 -0400

Over the last four years, there has been a strange irony. One of the greatest speakers of our era has largely kept silent about one of the signature aspects of his presidency. Under President Barack Obama's leadership, U.S. civilian intelligence agencies have carried out a series of not-so-covert operations in so-called secret wars that have reached a huge scale. There have been nearly 400 ...

My view There is no time for delay on comprehensive immigration reform

Sun, 26 May 2013 02:48:53 -0400

Pastor Nestor Bustos, left, Jorge Angel and Rolando Murillo sign letters to legislative leaders as the League of United Latin American Citizens holds a meeting at the Federal Building in Salt Lake City, Monday, April 15, 2013, to encourage comprehensive immigration ...

Doyle McManus Obama needs to be more forthcoming about IRS

Sun, 26 May 2013 02:48:53 -0400

There are plenty of juicy targets for investigators in the IRS scrutiny of conservative organizations that applied for tax-exempt status, but the most dangerous for President Obama is this: Did bureaucrats in Cincinnati create this mess on their own? Or did someone in the White House give the marching orders to target the president's ...

Editorial Dont loosen Denver leash laws

Sun, 26 May 2013 02:26:15 -0400

Dog lovers, we feel your pain.Allowing canines to romp off-leash in grassy public spaces can be a joyful experience for both man and beast.However, we have serious concerns about a suggested relaxation of leash laws in Denver. And Boulder's experiences with dogs being allowed off-leash in open-space parks illustrates why.A Denver woman has begun ...

Editorial U.S. tax code needs a serious overhaul

Sun, 26 May 2013 01:04:33 -0400

Two Michigan politicians were in the Washington spotlight last week hosting political investigations into alleged misconduct by one of the federal ...

The NLRBs school-door stand

Sun, 26 May 2013 01:04:18 -0400

The NLRB's school-door stand Early in an opinion issued recently by a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Judge A. Raymond Randolph ...

EPA out of control

Sun, 26 May 2013 00:49:38 -0400

The Competitive Enterprise Institute, a conservative advocacy group, has sued the Environmental Protection Agency seeking an explanation of why it has been denied waivers of fees for provision of documents while environmental groups almost always got waivers. Just more evidence EPA is becoming a law unto itself.Christopher Horner of CEI used a Freedom of Information Act request to examine ...

Let’s talk about sex Not at PC colleges

Sun, 26 May 2013 00:49:37 -0400

UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh, a specialist in First Amendment jurisprudence, notes (on the indispensable Volokh Conspiracy blog) that the OCR-DOJ’s proscriptions are "not limited to material that a reasonable person would find offensive." The Supreme Court has held that for speech or conduct in schools to lead to a successful sexual harassment lawsuit, it must be sufficiently ...

At IRS bias just business as usual

Sun, 26 May 2013 00:49:36 -0400

WASHINGTON - "Horrible customer service." That’s what the newly fired IRS commissioner averred was the agency’s only sin in singling out conservative political groups for discriminatory treatment.In such grim proceedings one should be grateful for unintended humor. Horrible customer service is when every patron in a restaurant finds a fly in his soup. But when the maitre ...

Kidnapping now a global issue

Sun, 26 May 2013 00:49:36 -0400

Elias told Congress, "All my hopes and dreams for their future now lie in the hands of others. … I am begging our government to help not only my family, but hundreds of other heartbroken families as well, to demand the return of our American children who are being held in Japan."Colin Bower’s children, Noor and Ramsay, were abducted from their home in Boston to Egypt nearly ...

John Florez Government a big vending machine

Sun, 26 May 2013 00:11:28 -0400

"Government is like a vending machine. You put in money, and you get out goods and services," according to Donald Kettl, policy expert. And then when you don't get what you want and the machine has taken your money, you get frustrated and want to shake and kick it. You are left ...

Why college costs so much

Sat, 25 May 2013 23:21:58 -0400

It’s graduation season across America, a time when our politicos come out to bore us with their commencement orations. If only that’s all they did. Unfortunately, they’re also doing their darnedest to ensure that the cost of a college degree is rising much faster than the ability to pay for ...

Guest Rethink school discipline for students of different backgrounds

Sat, 25 May 2013 22:17:17 -0400

We should look at school discipline through the prism of racial proportionality and adopt strategies that are more equitable, writes guest columnist Edward Lee ...

Guest Enroll students automatically in AP honors classes

Sat, 25 May 2013 22:17:16 -0400

We should automatically enroll students who meet standard or pass the Washington state assessments into our most rigorous classes, writes guest columnist Rob ...

Guest Less assessment testing more learning for students

Sat, 25 May 2013 22:17:15 -0400

TO improve education in Washington State, we need to re-evaluate the number of required assessments, which reduce the time students have access to quality instruction. As educators, we have so much to cover academically in the small span of nine months. Society and our need for knowledge and skills has advanced dramatically in the past decade. Our students need to develop greater ...

Minnesota politics shaped by grassroots involvement

Sat, 25 May 2013 20:20:35 -0400

Just like the winter’s snow that just wouldn’t melt, the grass-roots movement that defeated both amendments and elected the new legislative majorities lasted until ...

Minnesota Legislature and campaign implications

Sat, 25 May 2013 20:20:34 -0400

The bare-knuckles partisan sparring that this issue generated made the tense marriage equality fight of a few weeks earlier seem courtly by comparison. It hit me on about Day Two that the emotion was akin to the "right to work" rallies at the Capitol in 2012. That was no coincidence. Like "right to work," this was about the future of labor unions and, by extension, the future ...

Minnesotas priorities for the 2014 Legislature

Sat, 25 May 2013 20:20:32 -0400

The 2014-15 Minnesota budget is set - or it will be when Gov. Mark Dayton affixes his signature to the last of the 10 omnibus tax and spending bills approved by 2013 Legislature before its regular session expired at 12 a.m. May ...

Minnesota suffers under DFL-controlled legislature

Sat, 25 May 2013 20:20:31 -0400

On so many fronts - taxes, spending, regulations and social policy - Minnesota took the largest leap leftward in a generation. Egged on by Gov. Mark Dayton, whose obsession with other people’s income seems limitless, the DFL-dominated Legislature actually wound up enacting a $2 billion deficit where none ...

Union desperation in Minnesota

Sat, 25 May 2013 20:20:29 -0400

Desperate times call for desperate measures, but the union movement has taken this saying to a new level. It has reacted to dwindling membership by unionizing recipients of public assistance. In more than a dozen states, unions now extract dues from government benefit checks. The latest example is Minnesota. The Legislature just passed a law unionizing day care providers at the behest of the ...

Ending sexual assault in the military

Sat, 25 May 2013 20:20:28 -0400

Members of the U.S. Naval Academy's class of 2013, sing the school song, during the Academy's graduation and commissioning ceremonies, Friday, May 24, 2013, in Annapolis, Md, where President Barack Obama spoke. Obama urged new graduates to exhibit honor and courage in tackling incidents of sexual assault as they assume leadership positions in the ...

Dont miss Minnesotas Food Truck Fair

Sat, 25 May 2013 20:20:27 -0400

Minnesota Food Truck Fair is coming up next month, as I see in the Star Tribune. I can get gassy at the chassis of such vehicles as the Gastrotruck, or order something called a Bangkok burrito at the World Street Kitchen ...

Disparities in breast cancer treatment Column

Sat, 25 May 2013 15:50:02 -0400

There is still a lot of work to be done in the fight against breast cancer, including making sure all women have the opportunity to make their own personal decisions about their medical ...

Slippery slope to accepting atheist Boy Scouts Column

Sat, 25 May 2013 15:50:02 -0400

The new "compromise" adopted by the BSA is an irrational and thus an unstable one. On Thursday, delegates to the national convention of the Boy Scouts of America adopted ...

Energy policy is national security issue Column

Sat, 25 May 2013 15:50:02 -0400

Energy self-sufficiency, which could be attainable in a decade or so, would mean that U.S. foreign policy couldn't be held hostage to energy ...

Herald Poll Boy Scouts vote to allow gay members

Sat, 25 May 2013 12:39:29 -0400

The Boy Scouts of America officially changed their policy this week -- allowing gay scouts to become members, while keeping a ban in place ...

Interstate 5 bridge collapse

Sat, 25 May 2013 11:32:29 -0400

A section of the Interstate 5 in Mount Vernon collapsed Thursday. Hovercrafts search the Skagit River for survivors below. (Dean Rutz / The Seattle Times) It seems obvious that, if we're going to keep our old, obsolete bridges and continue to repair them, we had better find a way for heavy rigs to be routed somewhere else and isolate and dedicate these bridges for cars only ["Stunning ...

President Obama restricts drone use

Sat, 25 May 2013 10:33:24 -0400

Conservatives are upset with President Obama's attempt to wind down the so-called war on terror ["President sets restrictions on drone policy," News, May 24]. They feel that no effort should be spared in keeping our country safe from terrorist attacks, even while acknowledging that nothing we can do will guarantee that it won't happen again. It's funny that they ...

Words Of Wisdom For The Graduating Class Of Moore Okla.

Sat, 25 May 2013 07:36:37 -0400

With a city still in shambles from a deadly tornado, high school students in Moore, Okla., are graduating Saturday. High school students in Moore, Okla., will graduate on schedule Saturday, 6 p.m. at the convention center. Even more than usual, high school graduates in Moore may feel that this is a week in which they have, as the phrase from Corinthians says it, "put away childish ...

Sole Survivor Iraq Rescue Mission Ended In Tragedy

Sat, 25 May 2013 07:36:37 -0400

In our latest installment of the StoryCorps Military Voices Initiative, we hear from Lance Cpl. Travis Williams. In 2005, while serving in Iraq, Williams and his 12-man squad came under attack. He was the only ...

IRS leaders had plenty of opportunities to come clean

Sat, 25 May 2013 02:46:08 -0400

The following editorial appeared in Friday's Washington Post:Why didn't Congress know earlier that the Internal Revenue Service had targeted conservative groups for special scrutiny? In days of hearings, lawmakers have tried to get a satisfactory answer from witnesses under oath. They haven't succeeded.According to a Treasury Department inspector general's report, Lois Lerner, ...

Letters My View irresponsible

Sat, 25 May 2013 02:44:16 -0400

Publishing information in your paper that seeks to attribute the MMR vaccine to autism is grossly irresponsible and destructive. The link stated by Cindy Pokezwinski in this piece is not based in scientific fact ("MMR vaccine caused my son's autism," May ...

Letters Fair Tax and the IRS

Sat, 25 May 2013 02:44:15 -0400

Recent news regarding the IRS targeting certain political groups and their members for harassment via tax-exempt applications and tax return audits provides further reason why we the people should vote to disband the ...

Can Obama walk the walk on terror policy

Sat, 25 May 2013 02:27:50 -0400

newly restrained vision of the way the nation fights terror is an important and necessary recalibration that acknowledges the long-term nature of the battle this country is fighting.We were glad to see the president articulate a narrowing of the use of unmanned drone attacks abroad, and that he remains open to the notion of a "drone court," which would provide oversight for drone ...

Special prosecutor for IRS

Sat, 25 May 2013 01:39:36 -0400

As the White House obfuscated and IRS officer Lois Lerner plead the Fifth, calls for a special prosecutor grew louder in the nation's capital this week. Not so fast, says Michigan Rep. Dave Camp, R-Midland, who is overseeing House Ways and Means Committee investigations into the ...

Our readers on the News

Sat, 25 May 2013 01:39:34 -0400

The Detroit News aims to provide a forum that fosters smart, civil discussions on the news and events that we cover. The News will not condone personal attacks, off topic posts or brutish language on our site. If you find a comment that you believe violates these standards, please click the "X" in the upper right corner of the post to report ...

George F. Will Obama takes a page from George Wallaces book

Sat, 25 May 2013 01:39:32 -0400

Early in an opinion issued recently by a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Judge A. Raymond Randolph says: "Although the parties have not raised it, one issue needs to be resolved before we turn to the merits of the case." The issue he raised but could not resolve — that is up to the Supreme Court — illuminates the ...

My view Fighting the ignoble reign of money

Sat, 25 May 2013 01:39:31 -0400

The older I get, the more I am convinced of the truth of the oft-repeated maxim suggesting money is at the heart of much ...

Giving up on terror

Sat, 25 May 2013 00:13:35 -0400

The FBI has now reportedly identified at least five suspects wanted in connection with the Benghazi terror attack. This is the way the Associated Press reported it, quoting unnamed U.S. officials:"The officials say they have enough evidence to justify seizing them by military force as suspected terrorists - but not enough proof to try them in a U.S. civilian court as the Obama administration ...

Little League has life lesson Keep running

Sat, 25 May 2013 00:13:32 -0400

So there I am coaching third base for my 9-year-old son’s Little League team. Man on second, one out. The batter hits a ground ball to third, and the fielder promptly boots it, so I send the runner in to home plate. He’s ahead of the ball - and then, suddenly, the kid stops running! He’s tagged out. We lose by one run.Now, I’m old school. I played baseball for 15 ...

Tide shifts against prez

Sat, 25 May 2013 00:13:30 -0400

Voters also reject the notion that the IRS targeting was the work of some low-level rogue employees. Just 20 percent believe that to be the case. A slightly larger number (26 percent) thinks the decision came from IRS headquarters. But 39 percent believe the decision to target conservative groups was made by someone who works at the White House.This isn’t just a case of people believing ...

Scouts the public square

Fri, 24 May 2013 23:29:54 -0400

The Boy Scouts’ decision to change their position on gay scouts may - or may not - buy them some peace with those who have been working overtime to drive them off the public square. But what will be the fate of those institutions that play equally vital roles in the civic life of our cities and communities but cannot change their practices because of what they believe to be religious law? ...

Week In Politics Obama And Drone Strikes

Fri, 24 May 2013 23:29:49 -0400

Copyright © 2013 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required. MELISSA BLOCK, HOST: As we mentioned, President Obama's commencement address comes the day after he delivered an hour-long speech on national security. The president talked about redefining the effort away from what he called a boundless global war on terror. Here to ...