Published Monday, May 5, 2008
THE TRIBUNE'S VIEW
The gas tax pander
By HENRY J. WATERS III, Publisher, Columbia Daily Tribune
Barack Obama alone among the three presidential front-runners has the good sense and political courage to oppose repealing the federal gasoline tax for a period of time this summer. Both Hillary Clinton and John McCain endorse this misbegotten idea, obviously pandering to the general angst over high fuel prices.
JOHN DARKOW CARTOON
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OPEN COLUMN
Without effective police,
Columbia won’t grow
Editor, the Tribune: A January poll by Inside Columbia revealed 52.9 percent of Columbians had altered their daily habits because of the recent increase in violent crime. That is appalling and unacceptable. The mayor and police chief played down the need for major action to turn around this trend, showing a lack of focus on a basic governmental function. To help, the Central Missouri Development Council donated $5,000 to the police SWAT team for a place to exercise and to stay fit.
OPEN COLUMN
House bill intended to inform, protect women
Editor, the Tribune: Your April 21 editorial, "Coercion," concerns my House Bill 1831. This legislation, passed by an overwhelming bipartisan majority of 113-33, strengthens Missouri’s abortion informed consent law and makes it a crime to coerce a woman into having an abortion. A criticism in the editorial is that the bill’s provisions are unconstitutional. To the contrary, the bill was carefully drafted to comply with the relevant U.S. Supreme Court decisions, Planned Parenthood v. Casey and Gonzalez v. Carhart.
Hillary Clinton strong on health care, weak on Iran
By BILL O’REILLY
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Well, it took nearly 12 years, but I finally convinced Sen. Hillary Clinton to speak with me on television. Emboldened by Barack Obama’s "Rev. Wright" disaster, the senator is aggressively reaching out to independent voters, many of whom watch "The Factor."
Benedict clashes with U.S. church/state separation
By E.J. DIONNE
The most jarring word that Pope Benedict XVI used during his visit to the United States was "countercultural." The American sense of that term is shaped by the 1960s: free love, drugs, hippies, rock music and rebellion. Needless to say, that’s not what Benedict was preaching.
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