http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/index.html http://media.miamiherald.com/images/logos/rss_sitelogo.gif http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/index.html 140 25 News, sports and entertainment from MiamiHerald.com en-us Copyright 2008 MiamiHerald.com Other Views 60 Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:39:13 EDT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's PubSys miamifeedback@miamiherald.com http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/inbox/story/658712.html http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/inbox/story/658712.html Wed, 27 Aug 2008 03:01 EDT This has been a year filled with teachable political moments. Racism, sexism, ageism and ''change'' have been debated at kitchen tables and water coolers across America. But this last week, those gathered around my kitchen table have been consumed with another discussion, one that is not Democratic or Republican -- it's the ''R-word'' debate. http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/inbox/story/656832.html http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/inbox/story/656832.html Tue, 26 Aug 2008 03:01 EDT I've covered the U.S. detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, since 2004 as military correspondent for The Post. Jumah al Dossari first caught my attention in October 2005, when I heard the story of his gruesome suicide attempt during a visit from his lawyer. Then known as Detainee No. 261, Dossari clearly was making a public plea for help. Though the U.S. military has said many times that all detainees at Guantánamo are treated humanely and that Dossari had been getting... http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/inbox/story/653588.html http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/inbox/story/653588.html Mon, 25 Aug 2008 03:01 EDT When times get tough, true leaders step forward, see the future as it can be and work to create it. That is what business leaders in Broward County and at The Broward Alliance are doing. http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/660118.html http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/660118.html Wed, 27 Aug 2008 03:01 EDT I've been to four or five political party parties, and I'm convinced that there's almost nothing that happens in the convention hall that needs to take place in real life and real time anymore. Like the ''footprint'' fireworks at the Olympics in China, political conventions could be crafted entirely in a computer. http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/660124.html http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/660124.html Wed, 27 Aug 2008 03:01 EDT He spoke of the promise before he spoke of the dream. In the first part of the momentous speech he gave at the Lincoln Memorial, the part school children don't memorize and pundits never quote, Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded a watching world that in writing the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, the founders were ``signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/660133.html http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/660133.html Wed, 27 Aug 2008 03:01 EDT My fellow Democrats, thanks. I humbly -- or at least with as much humility as I'm capable of -- accept your nomination. I do so confident in my abilities, but aware of my limitations. I know full well that many of you in this stadium tonight, and others across our great country, have reservations about whether I'm ready to be president. Honestly, I have a few qualms myself. The presidency is a huge job and the country is in such a mess after eight years of Bush and Cheney that even if Congress gives... http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/657955.html http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/657955.html Tue, 26 Aug 2008 03:01 EDT Political courage is not about standing up for what's easy and popular with the people who elect you. It's about standing up for what you believe in. http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/657963.html http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/657963.html Tue, 26 Aug 2008 03:01 EDT DENVER -- I cannot believe that it has been more than 20 years since I interviewed Sen. Joe Biden about his reflections on his first presidential race, but the date on the column is irrefutable: Jan. 6, 1988. http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/657989.html http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/657989.html Tue, 26 Aug 2008 03:01 EDT The arrival of Tropical Storm Fay last week coincided with our visit to Miami as delegates of the New Orleans Fleur-de-lis Ambassadors. As survivors of Hurricane Katrina, the worse man-made disaster in modern U.S. history, we found the timing somewhat auspicious. http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/656414.html http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/656414.html Mon, 25 Aug 2008 03:01 EDT A war between a resurgent Russia and tiny Georgia over the microscopic region of South Ossetia should have little impact on another miniature country on the shores of the Mediterranean. And yet, the course of this conflict points in a direction that should trouble those who care about Israel and about the prospects for peace in the Middle East. http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/656421.html http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/656421.html Mon, 25 Aug 2008 03:01 EDT From cyclones and hurricanes in Asia and Latin America to fires and floods in Europe and the United States, natural disasters have become a frequent and foreseeable danger to lives and livelihoods. This changed outlook means that it is not enough to provide relief measures after disasters strike; we must also anticipate and take preventive steps. http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/656422.html http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/656422.html Mon, 25 Aug 2008 03:01 EDT For the better part of 60 years, two old Army pilots who loved each other argued over many a meal and drink as to which of them was the second best pilot in the world. http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/653939.html http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/653939.html Sun, 24 Aug 2008 03:01 EDT You cannot watch Laura Belsey's movie without ruminating upon the myriad ways we fail our young. There are many wrenching scenes in Katrina's Children but arguably the most wrenching is not the girl crying because the hurricane left her so fearful of water she can no longer swim, or the boys touring the wreckage that once was home, or the children recalling how corpses floated by, writhing with maggots, bursting open. No, the most wrenching scene comes when Tyronieshia tries to read. http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/653927.html http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/653927.html Sun, 24 Aug 2008 03:01 EDT Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, the longtime military dictator who resigned Monday, was an ambivalent ally in the fight against radical Islamists. http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/653931.html http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/653931.html Sun, 24 Aug 2008 03:01 EDT There are three ugly truths about electoral politics today. The first, and the ugliest of all, is that elections are much more often about the destruction of the opposition than the building of ideas. But it doesn't have to be that way. http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/653943.html http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/653943.html Sun, 24 Aug 2008 03:01 EDT Ah, the mysterious and arcane ways of campaign consultants. Every campaign strategist in a major race tries to stretch the envelope in thinking about how to maximize his or her candidate's strengths and how to capitalize on the weaknesses of the opponent. Not to do so is political malpractice. http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/653936.html http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/653936.html Sun, 24 Aug 2008 03:01 EDT The temptation is obvious: Polling tells us that voters are more likely to remember a negative message than a positive one. And yet the danger is substantial: Those same voters tend to think less of candidates who deliver a negative message. So the question that every candidate faces is this one: Is the probable backlash worth the potential payoff? http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/654332.html http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/654332.html Sat, 23 Aug 2008 03:01 EDT Below are excerpts from a federal inspector general's report on political hiring in the Justice Department. The report is entitled: ``An Investigation of Allegations of Politicized Hiring by Monica Goodling and other staff in the Office of the Attorney General.'' http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/654333.html http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/654333.html Sat, 23 Aug 2008 03:01 EDT A s he accepts his party's presidential nomination on Aug. 28, standing a mile high at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, Barack Obama will be pressing into a landscape long thought impassable for a Democrat seeking the White House. Colorado has picked a Democrat for president just once in the last 40 years. Nevada, twice. New Mexico, three times. Yet with the region's recent political shift from solidly Republican to highly independent, and the Democratic National Convention in Denver, these states... http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/654316.html http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/654316.html Sat, 23 Aug 2008 03:01 EDT Once more we prepare to honor our foremothers by celebrating the anniversary of the passage of women's suffrage. Each year, in advance of Aug. 26, our one-woman committee gathers to hand out the Equal Rites Awards to those stalwarts who have done the most in the past year to set back the cause of women.