THE TRIBUNE'S VIEW
Online sales tax
By HENRY J. WATERS III, Publisher, Columbia Daily Tribune 
Once again, in the shopping season just completed, online retail sales jumped while sales in traditional stores languished. The most pernicious effect of this shift is the erosion of sales tax revenue for supporting public services.

JOHN DARKOW CARTOON

OPEN COLUMN
Bush’s wiretaps are more dangerous than al-Qaida
Editor, the Tribune: The outrageous claim by President George W. Bush that the Constitution gives him the power to order telephone taps on American citizens without the legal constraints imposed by law is clear evidence that we have forgotten Watergate under President Richard Nixon and the Iran-Contra violations under President Ronald Reagan.

OPEN COLUMN
U.S. should take note of mandate from Iraq
Editor, the Tribune: Of all the arguments for and against our invasion and occupation of Iraq, there is one astounding fact that ought to make all other considerations immediately irrelevant: 80 percent of Iraqis want us to leave.

OPEN COLUMN
Police should enforce laws even if no one complains
Editor, the Tribune: This letter is in response to the Tribune article about the prostitution arrests at the A-frame at 5210 N. Highway 763 in which "Columbia police Capt. Brad Nelson said investigation into such businesses in the city is generally done on a complaint basis."

OPEN COLUMN
Domestic spying is a dishonor to our history
Editor, the Tribune: Recent revelations about domestic spying by the National Security Agency are disturbing for several reasons: It is probably illegal; adequate legal procedures already exist; and many defend this continued erosion of civil liberties even with ample evidence that such powers are abused.

2006 leaves behind year of goofs
By DAVID BRODER
When I sat down to review the past year’s columns for my annual accounting of errors and misjudgments, I realized that the politicians I cover had set an impossibly high standard in 2005. They had screwed up so often and so spectacularly that my goofs were almost certain to seem trivial by comparison.

Labor leader understands unions’ functions
By GEORGE F. WILL
In one of the biggest successes in the history of organized labor in the South, the 4,700 janitors working for Houston’s four largest cleaning companies recently joined the Service Employees International Union. The janitors, mostly immigrants, earn an average of $5.30 an hour - 15 cents more than the minimum wage - without health-care benefits. The mobilization of the janitors is one sign of why Andy Stern, head of the SEIU, is today’s most important - perhaps the only really important - labor leader.

Dave Barry's 2005 Year in review
By DAVE BARRY
It was the Year of the Woman. But not in a good way. Oh, I’m not saying men did nothing stupid or despicable in 2005. Of course they did! That’s why we call them “men.”

STAY IN TOUCH
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