The Opinion Blog

Let the states settle gay marriage question

Ripped from the wires ... Froma Harrop explains why the Supreme Court should butt out of the gay-marriage drama in the states:

By FROMA HARROP

This has been a month of forward leaps in the campaign for gay-marriage -- or so it is said. The Iowa Supreme Court struck down a ban on same-sex marriage, providing a toehold in the heartland. And the Vermont Legislature legalized gay marriage, marking the first time that elected lawmakers, rather than state judges, initiated such change.

Could the MB Harley rally die of its own accord?

Gang: I came across this story on the decline of Harley Davidson in the Business section of today's New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/business/economy/22harley.html?_r=1&ref=business

The down trends described therein seem irreversible, though HD has been at death's door before and come roaring back. But when you couple its economic woes with demographically driven declining sales, it's as easy to envision a world without Harleys as it is to envision a world without, um, newspapers. If this perception is correct (and as we say in the editorial-writing game, only time will tell), the remaining MB rally, over time, could just simply wither away. dc

Comments?

You'll miss newspapers more than you think

Ripped from the wires ... Kathleen Parker envisions the post-newspapers world and finds it scary:

 By KATHLEEN PARKER
 
BOSTON -- The biggest challenge facing America's struggling newspaper industry may not be the high cost of newsprint or lost ad revenues, but ignorance stoked by drive-by punditry.

Yes, Dittoheads, you heard it right.

Layoffs idling the well-educated young

Ripped from the wires ... Kathleen Parker wonders whether the college degree has outlived its usefulness as a ticket to the good life:

By KATHLEEN PARKER

NEW YORK -- At Sarabeth's restaurant on Central Park South, two young old friends are catching up and comparing notes over breakfast.

Anyone seated nearby quickly learns the story. They met in graduate school; both hold MBAs. Both recently have joined the swelling ranks of America's unemployed.

Sensitivity rules in the 'United States of the Aggrieved'

Ripped from the wires ... Leonard Pitts Jr. explores our national obsession with sensitivity:

By Leonard Pitts Jr.

Clint Eastwood has had it up to here with sensitivity.

"A lot of people are bored of all the political correctness,'' he recently told the New York Times. ''... The country has come a long way in race relations, but the pendulum swings so far back. Everyone wants to be so'' ... and here, he gave a make-my-day grimace ... ``sensitive.''

Big Detroit dailies may cut back on home delivery

Ripped from the newswire ... The other shoe soon may drop for Detroit's two big daily newspapers, according to this Wall Street Journal report:

By RUSSELL ADAMS
The publisher of the Detroit Free Press, the country's 20th largest paper by weekday circulation, is expected to announce next week that it will cease home delivery of the print edition of the newspaper on most days of the week, according to a person familiar with the company's thinking.

GOP must deal with its G-O-D problem -- or perish

Ripped from the wires ... Kathleen Parker argues that the GOP can't be successful again unless it corrects its "armband religion" over-emphasis.

By KATHLEEN PARKER
As Republicans sort out the reasons for their defeat, they likely will overlook or dismiss the gorilla in the pulpit. Three little letters, great big problem: G-O-D.

I'm bathing in holy water as I type.

View from Mount Trashmore should be fabulous

Today's editorial notes that our local trash-generation habit could result in Horry County's first high-rise landform:

There's likely nothing technically wrong with the Horry County Solid Waste Authority's preliminary proposal to build another landfill on top of the existing ones at its S.C. 90 facility. The experts say that piggybacked dumps of this sort are environmentally sound - if properly executed.

The accretion of trash year by year would elevate the add-on dump to about 240 feet, creating Horry County's first high-rise landform. Unless a more elegant name suggests itself, policymakers could dub it generically: Mount Trashmore. The view from the peak promises to be fantastic.

Racial diversity here to stay; get used to it

Ripped from the wires ... The Miami Herald last week ruminated over the meaning of white Americans' impending plurality status:

The announcement on Thursday that minorities collectively will make up a majority of people in America by 2042 comes at a contentious moment in U.S. history. A bitter and largely negative debate about immigration roils the country.

Why the motorcycle rallies' years are numbered

Here's an advance look at a letter to be published in the newspaper on Thursday:

By Stan Borris

For all your "get real, Myrtle Beach" readers and writers, it is difficult to assign much credibility. None want to raise taxes; but so many are willing to support whatever expenses, inconveniences, congestion, increased crime, noise and pollution generated by the motorcycle migrations that dominate so much of the month of May hereabouts.

Don't misunderstand. Personally, I think these guests are really cute; I enjoy scantily clad biker mamas or chicks stretching out on the backs of the choppers and their entertaining behavior wherever they hang out. But their days, really years, are numbered.