Opinion

Editorials

Editorial: The Bad News, Some Good News, and Poor Excuses By BECKY O'MALLEY

Friday September 02, 2005

Thursday’s New York Times editorial started out “George W. Bush gave one of the worst speeches of his life yesterday…” Well, he’s already topped himself. On Thursday morning he told ABC News, as quoted online by the BBC, “I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees. They did appreciate a serious storm but these levees got breached and as a result much of New Orleans is flooded ….” Yes, Mr. President, many people did anticipate the breach of the levees, but you and your advisers chose to ignore them. Thursday’s papers were already full of the accounting of how the current administration has chosen to ignore the facts on the ground. Molly Ivins in her syndicated column did a tidy roundup of all the ways that budget essential to protecting New Orleans from the inevitable and anticipated breach of the levees was diverted by the Bush administration into the war in Iraq and other follies. -more-


Editorial: Experiments Enhance Education By BECKY O'MALLEY

Tuesday August 30, 2005

For those of us who have spent a substantial part of our lives in or near educational institutions—and that’s most of us in Greater Berkeley—the approach of September always feels like the real New Year. Even for small children it’s the chance to start over again and to get it right this time. Over the weekend we attended a small gathering marking the tenth anniversary of the deaths of Page and Eloise Smith, who 40 years ago spearheaded some significant attempts to get education right. -more-


Public Comment