News opinion 2008-07-10 Andanh.com

Tough act to follow Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:12:00 EST
Who knows? Maybe Jim Bunning will make the cut in another hall of fame. He already has a well-earned place in baseball's glory gallery. More recent events have qualified him for a special place in the history of the U.S. Senate.

Credit where it's due Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:12:00 EST
Prosecutors who object to giving convicts credit against their sentences, for the time they spend successfully under supervision outside prison, just don't get it.

Louis Coleman: 'a first responder to injustice' Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:13:00 EST
I took for granted that the Rev. Louis Coleman would always be around Kentucky, speaking truth to power as he saw it.

Mayoral change? Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:13:00 EST
I appreciate John David Dyche's insightful column Tuesday about Mayor Jerry Abramson's reign in Louisville. As a Republican, I would like to see one of our own running our city in a more fiscally conservative manner.

Readers respond to July 4 'No flying flag' letter Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:15:00 EST
The "contact" of Kentuckiana Chapter of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, whose letter "No flying flag" appeared in the Fourth of July edition of this paper, is making a mistake in judgment that has become common of late.

Trash as fuel Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:15:00 EST
I find it curious that in the United States, we dig coal to burn at our power plants to produce electricity. We also bury our trash instead of burning it due to pollution. On a recent trip to the Netherlands (Amsterdam area) I found that the power plant burns trash in place of coal to produce electricity.

Obama's call to faith Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:17:00 EST
Barack Obama is channeling JFK these days. Oddly, he's doing it through one of George W. Bush's more controversial policies.

An Internet fraud Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:17:00 EST
Over the years, many statements have been falsely attributed to me, but this is the first year in which a whole column has been made up and circulated in a chain letter on the Internet, claiming that I wrote it.

Former rivals tackle ugly Vietnam legacy Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:17:00 EST
Just shy of eight years after they squared off in the Florida recount battle, James A. Baker III and Warren Christopher have joined forces to clean up one of the ugly legacies of Vietnam -- the misguided piece of legislation called the War Powers Act.

Iraq and Afghanistan... Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:42:00 EST

Readers' views Thu, 10 Jul 2008 02:32 EDT

Search for new U.S. oil reserves worth the time

In discussions concerning whether to drill or not drill for oil in previously forbidden areas, one of the reasons cited for not doing so is that it would take years for any new oil to be available.

Using that logic, there would never be any progress toward development of anything new for any purpose. The same argument can be made about alternative energy sources. It would take decades for an oil replacement to be achieved, so why do it?

The same could be said about research for medical advancements. They may take years or decades for anything to be discovered. Searching for cures for cancer, heart disease, AIDS, etc. may take years or decades, so why proceed? New drug approvals take up to 10 years, so why bother with that?

Curious, inventive mind key to lifelong learning Thu, 10 Jul 2008 02:32 EDT

One of my greatest pleasures during the summer months is escaping the plaintive whine of .When am I ever going to use this?. from students.

Alongside the lazy anti-intellectualism implicit in this gripe, there lies an inability to imagine a future that differs from the present.

There are many examples of the world being vastly improved by people from older generations who did not give up on learning because they saw no immediate use for what they were doing at a particular instant in time. Here are a few:

. In 1958, researchers at Bell Labs discovered a novelty described as a highly focused beam of red light produced by light amplification by stimulation of emitted radiation, laser for short. The researchers had no practical use for the invention at the time but succeeding workers have learned to apply it to cut metal, in surgery, scan prices at stores, repair retinas, read CDs and DVDs and measure distances in surveying.

Sane approach to parole credits Thu, 10 Jul 2008 02:32 EDT

Kentucky's prison population grew by 12 percent last year, the fastest rate of increase in the nation according to the Pew Center on the States.

Between 1970 and 2007, the number of inmates housed in state prisons grew from about 2,800 to over 22,000. During the same period, the cost of operating our prisons went from $7 million to $417 million.

Small wonder then that there was a bipartisan effort in this year's General Assembly to turn that trend around.

Increased treatment opportunities for non-violent drug offenders was one product of that effort. Expansion of home incarceration and certain credits prisoners can earn also stemmed from that effort.

Louis Coleman Thu, 10 Jul 2008 02:32 EDT

Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson used to describe his role as .the tree shaker, not the jellymaker.. He would agitate for change; someone else needed to pick up the fruits of that labor.

The Rev. Louis Coleman, who will be buried in Louisville Friday, was definitely of the tree-shaking tradition. He died Saturday after a series of seizures; he was 64.

A member of the Kentucky Civil Rights Hall of Fame, the Rev. Coleman won a lawsuit against DuPont for operating a discriminatory seniority system and another lawsuit challenging the lack of black coaches in Kentucky.

He pushed for increased minority hiring and contracting in state government and in the private sector, protested police shootings and rallied some Richmond residents to demand improved relations with the police.

Wiretap vote Thu, 10 Jul 2008 07:48 EDT

Publisher's Note: Lusting for a tin can or a bathtub on wheels

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