Knoxville Times
KnoxvilleTimes.com Friday 3rd September 2010 Issue 2010/246
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A glimmer of hope
Published: September 3, 2010 It has been a long time since it has been possible to be hopeful about the Middle East. But the one-year peace process undertaken this week by President Obama may...


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The mosque: Good or bad?
herald poll Controversy continues to swirl around plans to build a $100 million Islamic community center and mosque two blocks north of the World Trade Center site. It's called the Park 51 Islamic...
Site is a sight
I have a problem with the "sight" that meets the eye as we come off the freeway onto Center Street and see the Roasted Artichoke building! Whether we are seeing it from the front or back, it is ...
More BYU change needed
Another season of BYU football is about to begin. Has BYU addressed the problem of how uninventive and predictable the offense has become? Everyone knows what plays the BYU offense is going run...
Spill fix looks slippery
MEDIA VOICES From the Northwest Floria Daily News, Wednesday, Sept. 1: The oil that gushed from BP's busted well in the Gulf of Mexico has dissipated, but BP's fanciful claims about the crisis...
BYU and the student-athlete
Media attention this week has focused on the Brigham Young University football team's declaration of independence, and for good reason. With a sweetheart ESPN contract and regular matchups with Notre...
Mosque controversy will define us
On the eve of the 9/11 terrorist attacks' ninth anniversary, the controversy over locating a mosque near ground zero in New York City shows that we must stand for fundamental freedoms even as we...
U.S. troop withdrawal would leave Afghan women in peril
In mid-August in the northern Afghanistan province of Kunduz, a horrific, Taliban-ordered sentence was carried out against two young, unmarried Afghan lovers who had eloped against their families'...
The war in Iraq was necessary, and world is safer because of it
President Barack Obama went on TV the other night to talk about the end of the combat mission in Iraq, and what he did not say is what very few are saying, least of all the ideologically disturbed,...
Rare opportunity exists now for peace in the Middle East
President Barack Obama is embarking on something I've never seen before — taking on two Missions Impossible at the same time. That is, a simultaneous effort to heal the two most bitter divides...
Cover news, not 'olds'
In this time of change at the Deseret News, and in fact always, there are way too many shrill voices. I seek to be positive and to recognize the good the Deseret News has done and its being a key...
Pullout to cut jobs?
President Barack Obama stated that we "spent vast resources abroad at a time of tight budgets at home." I would have thought that most of the resources spent on the war have actually been expended in...
Glenn Beck: Theologian in Chief?
Glenn Beck has undertaken a long personal journey from his troubled beginnings in Mount Vernon, Washington, to the promised land of Cable TV and hallowed ground of the Lincoln Memorial. In the...
Editorial: Detroit City Council should back mayor in labor talks
The Detroit City Council should support Mayor Dave Bing as he seeks an end to a standoff with one of the city's major employee unions. A state fact finder has said Bing is justified in seeking pay...
Economic issues hurt Democrats
Advertisement When the two of us talked the other day, strategist-commentator Carville showed that 18 years later he hadn't lost a quip: "More than ever, it's the economy, stupid." The polls...
Policies ensure more economic despair
The National Bureau of Economic Research officially scored the recession as starting in December 2007. Since World War II, 65 years ago, the average duration of recessions has been 10 months, with...
Clarence Page: Ignorant America often casts the final and deciding vote
Ignorant America often casts the final and deciding vote Are Americans getting dumber? Evidence of that dreary possibility is offered by two new polls that show an unexpected development: Since...
Now not time to build mosque near ground zero
Ground zero, where many of our friends, relatives and countrymen lost their lives, is a place that will be hard to forget, for Muslims and non-Muslims alike. We are blessed to live with our family,...
Thomas Sowell: America reaching a point of no return
America reaching a point of no return How did we get to the point where many people feel that the America they have known is being replaced by a very different kind of country, with not only...
Letter: Wayne County has other budget options
The Detroit News editorial "Choose your poison" (Aug. 20) contributes to fear-mongering surrounding Wayne County retirees' so-called 13th check. It irresponsibly suggests that the county has a choice...
Letters: Beck rally inspired many
I was a little concerned over the Glenn Beck rally last weekend in Washington, D.C., for good reason. Whenever a mass of white Promise Keepers gather to make speeches it scares me as a black...
Letters to the editor
Concerning "Guns not safe or sane" (Letters, Aug. 28), I am amazed yet again by the ignorance gracing the letters section about gun laws in this state. California already has some of the strictest...
Iraq war: mission semi-accomplished
The war that began on a false pretense ended in ambiguity. President Obama declared this week that it was time for the United States to "turn the page" in Iraq. The combat mission is officially...
Muni: operators versus riders
Muni operators seem to have lost their sense of direction. Consider their union's latest move: asking the California Public Employment Relations Board to stop Muni from restoring 61 percent of the...
Repowered wind farm could save Altamont birds
If we told you that a poorly regulated energy facility killed thousands of birds this year, you could assume we were talking about BP's Deepwater Horizon platform in the Gulf of Mexico. But we also...
Politics, not evidence, drive education reform
President Obama's ambitious effort to lift the nation's schools draws heavily from the playbook employed in Chicago and New York City: Test kids more often, open more charter schools and tie teacher...
Transparency is job one
T axpayers can sense when they’re being conned, which is why champagne bottles have remained corked amid reports of the many jobs “saved or created” by the federal stimulus program....
Malone passes any smell test
I f Massachusetts Republicans want to win what appears to be their most winnable congressional seat in years, they’d better back former state Treasurer Joe Malone in the Sept. 14 primary for...
Oval Office redo a taupe dud
W hen President Barack Obama introduced the first budget of his presidency last February, he piously observed: “There are times where you can afford to redecorate your house, and then there are...
Less Barack, more Bubba
“Words I never thought I’d write: I pine for George W. Bush,” Peter Beinart vented in the Daily Beast, in response to Obama’s vacillating support for the Ground Zero mosque. ...
Thousands of Utah families need utility-bill help
(Chris Detrick | The Salt Lake Tribune) Volunteer Miriam Rosero works with people to see if they quality for Rocky Mountain Power and Questar's programs that help low income and the disabled pay...
Zions receives second fine for improper business practices
For the second time in less than a week, Zions Bancorp is grappling with a fine imposed by regulators on one of its financial services business...
Reservations firm aims to rule the VacationRoost
Last week, it took over Alta Ski Area’s central reservations system, helping out-of-state tourists arrange everything from airfare and lift tickets to accommodations, either at the top of Little...
Bernanke: Shut down banks if they threaten system
Manuel Balce Ceneta | The Associated Press
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Sep. 2, 2010, before the Financial Crisis Inquiry...
Burger King sets sights overseas after $3.26B sale
FILE - In this file photo taken Aug. 23, 2010, the Burger King sign is seen at a store in Mountain View, Calif.Burger King Holdings Inc. said Thursday , Sept. 2, that it is selling itself to private...
Mortgage rates hit decades-low of 4.32 percent
The average rate for a 30-year fixed loan was 4.32 percent this week, down from 4.36 percent last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. That’s the lowest since Freddie Mac began tracking...
Editorial: Flexibility needed on variances
"Good fences make good neighbors" remains the classic American land-use dictum, although poet Robert Frost's intent was to advance the opposite view -- that neighbors don't really need...
Dallas Morning News: Mexico’s drug war a deepening nightmare
In the current issue of Foreign Affairs, Robert Bonner, former Customs and Border Protection commissioner and administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, argues that government forces...
Janice Thurn: America can't rise without its workers
I am a middle-aged mother of two, a member of the American workforce, and a former believer in the American Dream. I was raised in a family that taught me the value and the honor of hard work. This...
Tim Rutten: Beck's latest bugaboo: Liberation theology
At least Glenn Beck isn't among the nearly one in five Americans who believe President Obama is a Muslim. Nor, as far as he's yet admitted, is he among the majority of Republicans who actually told...
Readers write for Sept. 3, 2010
StarTribune.com welcomes and encourages readers to comment and engage in substantive, mutually respectful exchanges over news topics. Commenters must follow...
Letter of the day: Recalling when social skills were graded along with '3 Rs'
While going through some old files recently, I ran across one of my early public grade school report cards. It was my first grade card from the fall of 1930. In addition to being graded for the...
'Mad Men' not so mad after all?
Producer Matthew Weiner, right, is joined by cast members as he accepts the award for outstanding drama series for "Mad Men" during the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards Sunday, Aug. 29 in Los...
Corruption and democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq
I wonder why we make a big fuss about corruption in Afghanistan [“Corruption probe ruffles U.S.-Afghan relations,” Nation & World, Aug. 31]. I worked in the Middle East for four years...
President Obama's bailouts and the Glenn Beck rally
Just what kind of a bad joke is President Obama dumping on the citizens of this country [“Obama: It is time to turn the page,” page one, Sept. 1]? His bailouts have turned out to be...
Sex predator files lawsuit over pay
This is in response to “Sex predator files lawsuit over pay” [NWFriday, Aug. 27]. OK but then as a taxpayer I would expect that, if they are paid minimum wage for their work, they in...
If Washington isn't racing to the top, where are we going?
Washington state's application for federal Race to the Top grants placed a dismal 32nd out of 36 states. Guest columnist Brad Smith urges Washington state educators and leaders not to resign...
Populism, then and now: protecting the little guy
favor "free enterprise." They favored their continuation as competition-killing monopolies.) In sharp contrast, today's populists don't see the recent economic meltdown as the product of the...
Economic climate change hits water policy
State revenue problems are forcing a serious conversation about how the state might overhaul the management and financing of Washington water resources. New ways of raising money and a hard look at...
Could Israeli-Palestinian talks bring peace?
Secretary of State Clinton today formally kicked off a major effort to broker peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Since every US president since Richard Nixon has tried – and failed – to...