The James Logan Courier

By Trudy Rubin
The Philadelphia Inquirer (MCT)

Do no Bush officials ever take responsibility for their actions?

In an administration that brags about its moral clarity, it appears that none of the senior officials had parents who taught them to 'fess up when they did wrong.

Take Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who claimed dozens of times in last week's Senate hearings that he couldn't remember his role in firing eight federal prosecutors. Then Gonzales had the chutzpah to say, "I believe that I continue to be effective."

McClatchy-Tribune News Service (MCT)

The following editorial appeared in the Sacramento Bee on Friday, April 20:

The federal Food and Drug Administration is proposing to redefine the very essence of chocolate and allow big manufacturers such as Hershey to sell a bar devoid of a key ingredient — cocoa butter. The butter's natural texture could be replaced with an array of inferior alternatives, such as vegetable fats. And the consumer would never know it.

Chocolate is under attack.

By Brian Gilmore (MCT)

We are not doing enough to support our troops when they return home. Some have actually become homeless, and it is a serious problem.

Veterans now account for about one-third of the estimated 200,000 homeless Americans, according to a recent CBS News report. Many of the homeless veterans served in the Vietnam War, but the number of homeless Iraq and Afghanistan veterans is expected to grow in coming years.

By Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (MCT)

Three weeks ago, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales wrote that the dismissal of eight U.S. attorneys was nothing more than "an overblown personnel matter." He could not be more wrong. The scandal is important for many reasons, but it is most important as a vivid example of the Bush administration's shameful subversion of the rule of law.

By Ray Dequina, Courier Opinion Editor

Picture this: I'm sitting in class, minding my own business. A student poses an innocent question to the class. They answer. I am silent. The student persists. I remain taciturn. The student continues asking and in a fit of rage, I finally answer. The whole class goes dead. The inquiring student stands with her mouth agape. Have I said something wrong?

The question, of course, was "What is your political affiliation?" and from the class' reaction, you would think that I had said something like "American Nazi" or "United Federation of Baby Eaters". Something tells me that, whatever other outlandish answer I might have given, none would've been received quite as hostilely as the answer I gave.