Today's Opinions
News-Gazette Editorials
Landmark status for hotel would be burden, not benefit
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Plans to declare a downtown Urbana hotel a local landmark have become a headache for its new owners.
It's tough enough to build a successful business in a competitive marketplace even without government officials gratuitously imposing an additional layer of regulation. More …
Emil Jones and Senate pals should feel free to retire
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
If Illinois Senate President Emil Jones feels underpaid and underappreciated, he should feel to look for employment elsewhere.
What is it about the subject of pay raises that makes Illinois state senators behave not like "a council of elders" (the literal definition of the upper house of a legislative body) but like a council of boors? More …
Letters to the Editor
Nuclear power is unacceptable option
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
No way is currently known for disposing of high-level radioactive wastes safely. Until a way is found, the Public Utilities Act forbids construction of any new nuclear power plant in Illinois. Unbelievably, a move is under way in the Legislature to repeal that moratorium, and the move apparently is being fast-tracked as a minor "technical change" to the law.
It is perhaps fitting that April Fool's Day was chosen to introduce the measure. Only a fool would advocate allowing increased production of hazardous nuclear waste when we have no safe place to put what we already have. Nuclear waste is perhaps the most dangerous stuff that exists in the world, and current storage methods render it (and us) vulnerable to accident, incompetence, natural disaster and terrorist attack. More …
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Gas stations are gouging customers
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Price gouging. Yes, it its happening here. One day last week gas was $3.42 a gallon. The next day it was $3.79 a gallon.
What is wrong with this picture? More …
Hate speech often issue of perspective
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Regarding the UPTV controversy, I thought the issue of freedom of speech had been settled during the Enlightenment. If you aren't willing to protect the speech of those with whom you most disagree, then you don't support freedom of speech.
We might compare the consequences of hate speech on UPTV with those of Colin Powell's speech before the United Nations in February 2003. If lies contained in propaganda that have genocidal consequences are not defined as hate speech, then hate speech isn't the problem. There's also a credibility problem with a definition of anti-Semitism that is applied to both Rev. Pike and Jimmy Carter. More …
Call waterway a river, not a ditch
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Champaign County's serene fields of corn, soybeans and wheat may not be very attractive to newcomers in the area but I, a native of Champaign County, always appreciated the prairie landscape as it changed through the seasons. However, I did not discover the real beauty that lies along our rivers and streams until 1958 when our family moved into a house near the Salt Fork. For over 30 years we've explored it and other streams that feed into the Wabash River. To our family the streams are a kind of "wilderness," a place to experience the beauty of the flora and fauna that does not venture into the cropland on either side of the stream banks.
The use of the word "ditch" that's been added to road signs sends the wrong message to the community. Words have tremendous power to create pictures in the mind's eye, and ditch creates an unpleasant picture. To ditch someone or something is to throw it away or dump it. More …
Save Assembly Hall, and build new arena
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
The debate regarding the Assembly Hall's future has begun, is being studied by the athletic department and by outside consulting firms.
First, it must be saved. It is an architecturally significant structure and truly a local landmark. It is in good condition and should not be demolished. More …
Comprehensive sex education is superior
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Recently in The News-Gazette there have been many letters concerning whether sex education should be taught in schools. Some people believe that abstinence is the only type of sex education that should be covered in school. However, other people believe and studies have shown that comprehensive sex education is the most beneficial to students who are sexually active. I believe comprehensive sex education informs people about sex and provides them with knowledge that can help them create a safer and healthier future.
Comprehensive sex education teaches students about diseases, abortion, pregnancy, contraceptives, relationships and other related issues to help prepare students for their adult lives. This type of education also can reduce the negative outcomes from unsafe sexual encounters. Abstinence-only education, on the other hand, tells young people to abstain from sex until marriage but does not inform sexually active teens about the dangers inherent in premature sexual relationships. More …