President Bush wasted no time in demonstrating that he will continue a tough line against Iraqi threats to allied planes in the no-fly zones.It's a good signal to send early in his administration.
Is he sending others as well?
American and British planes attacked radar installations and command centers south of Baghdad at the same time that State Department officials were meeting with leaders of Iraqi groups that oppose Saddam Hussein.
If it's a coincidence, it's an extraordinary one.
And maybe it's no coincidence that the air strikes occur when Saddam reportedly is making aggressive noises at Israel, threatening retaliation for the recent deaths of Palestinians.
Bush is taking a more hands-off approach to the Mideast peace process -- what there is left of it -- and perhaps the air strikes are meant to tell Saddam to keep his hands off Israel as well.
-- (Canton, Ohio) Repository
Earnhardt's death should make drivers rethink what racing fans really want
It's easy to be swayed by the mythic nature of Dale Earnhardt's life and death...
Polishing the myth eases the pain of losing the man.
It distracts from the realization that racing is -- always has been -- a blood sport.
Earnhardt was the fourth driver to die in less than nine months, but his death will make the greatest impact.
Maybe better safety equipment -- a head restraint, softer walls, more controllable aerodynamics -- would have saved Earnhardt...
Some -- including Earnhardt -- have said that tragedy is just part of the game...
On the track, Earnhardt was one of the boldest and seemingly least vulnerable.
He was one of the last drivers to wear an old-fashioned open-face helmet.
He visibly chafed at new safety regulations, saying they were a disservice to fans who wanted to see races the way he wanted to run them -- fearless, tight and just a little dirty.
But if Earnhardt could have seen the reaction to his death -- the broken sobbing of an anonymous fan in a parking lot, or the hollow-eyed grief on his own son's face as he walked out of Halifax Medical Center -- maybe he would have rethought what fans really want.
In Sunday's aftermath, one thing is clear.
They didn't want this.
-- News-Journal of Daytona Beach
DARE officials finally own up to national program's deficiencies
After months of criticism, here and elsewhere, the people who head the DARE program nationwide have admitted their program is a failure.
Recently, officials of the program, whose acronym stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education, said they are coming up with a revamped program -- one they have been working on for two years.
This raises several questions, not the least of which is why DARE's leaders strongly defended it against recent criticisms when they apparently knew at least some of the complaints were true.
For two years, they have been working quietly on changes based on evidence that DARE wasn't working, yet they were happy to continue accepting taxpayer money from school districts.
Not only that, they often impugned the motives of their critics, attacking them as hiding an agenda to legalize drugs.
Recently, studies by the National Academy of Sciences and the surgeon general have shown the program to be flawed.
Now the program's critics, including Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson, who last year withdrew support from DARE in the Salt Lake School District, now have gained a good measure of credibility.
-- Deseret News (Salt Lake City)
Students who recognized need for help should be applauded
On Feb. 14, three students at Southside High School sensed a student in trouble.
They didn't know how troubled he was, but they didn't wait to find out.
Instead, they sought help for Jeremy Getman, the student who police say had smuggled enough bombs and weapons into school to injure or kill untold numbers of students and staff.
As it turned out, the students' act of alerting Southside authorities averted what could have been a major tragedy.
The students have not been identified by authorities, although students in school and the staff know who they are.
Publicizing their names is not nearly as important now as publicizing their sensitivity and quick action.
What those students did during that tense time at Southside last Wednesday can never be overstated.
Rather than ignore Getman or fear being perceived as tattletales, the students went for help.
It was an act that not only defused a potentially dangerous situation but one that also showed compassion for a disturbed teen.
Their quick thinking was the latest in a series of similar situations around the United States recently.
In February alone, two other Southside-like incidents -- one in Fort Collins, Colo., and another in Palm Harbor, Fla. -- occurred when students tipped off authorities to plots by other students to attack or bomb their schools.
-- Elmira (N.Y.) Star-Gazette
Compiled by The Associated Press
