EDITORIALS Annals of Obamalaw

Verdict first, trial afterward

WORRIED about trying the ringleader of the 9/11 terrorists and four of his close associates in a civilian courtroom?

Afghans need support

The residents of the Afghan capital, both native and foreign, are waiting for President Obama to make up his mind. The president’s lengthy review of Afghan policy—the results of which he’s finally expected to announce around Thanksgiving—has created a dangerous sense of drift here.

Can we still boldly go?

Maybe someone should stick a copy of The Right Stuff into the DVD player on President Obama’s long flight back from his mission to Asia.

Obama v. Obama

CAN OUR president be catching on, or is he just pretending to?

LETTERS

Remember ‘forgotten war’Meredith Oakley’s column on “the forgotten war,” Korea, was appreciated by this old vet. It provided those of us who served in that place a moment’s reflection, a pause while shaving that creased and lined face to ask, “Was I really that young once?”

Jumping the gun

Barack Obama was just a wee lad the last time a president jumped the gun on the judicial process, so it probably never occurred to him to exercise a little verbal restraint.

More book than face

It’s been just over a month since I dove face-first into the social network program Facebook. Knowing the origin of the site as an electronic version of a university class picture directory, I expected it to be a forum dominated by kids and college students.

Ah, normalcy

ALMOST a hundred protesters, dressed mostly in red, fill the sidewalk along a city block on College Avenue in Fayetteville. They surround the office of Senator Blanche Lincoln. Truck and cars pass, some honking and cheering. Others turn thumbs down—and use their hands in other ways—to express disapproval.

Fifteen happier households

A WORRISOME statistic: Most families in Benton County are living with septic systems rather than sewage lines to their homes. To quote Piper Satterfield, an environmental specialist with the county’s health department : “If you live in Benton County, there is a good chance you are on a septic system whether you know it or not. When you flush your toilet, that water goes somewhere, so it is very important septic systems are done right.”

The Big Apple’s big trial

What, no plans for a ticker-tape parade?

WHY IS the Obama administration transferring Khalid Sheik Mohammed, who proudly proclaims himself the mastermind of the September 11th attacks, to a federal district court in New York? Has the defendant tired of the tropical breezes at Guantanamo?

Struggling with gray areas

They killed a killer last week.

War unchecked

In order to eliminate the Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, the United States launched at least 15 missile strikes in Pakistan this year and killed, besides Mr. Mehsud, somewhere between 200 and 300 people, according to a study by the New America Foundation. At least a quarter of those who died were civilians.

LETTERS

Tax leaders to fund reform Recently, I watched Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi again refer to “obscene profits” by the health insurers. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that nobody makes more money than the health insurers.

Tempest in a cartoon

The life of an editorial cartoonist can be as tumultuous as that of an opinion columnist. Just ask the Democrat-Gazette’s Roger Harvell, a particularly talented artist and an astute observer of public issues. Both Harvell and I have learned that tempests can arise inside a limited square of newsprint as easily as they can in any tea cup.

Time for some arrows

The time has come to discern the fates of those who shape this crazy world in which the rest of us must dwell, so let the arrows fly.