Augusta Chronicle, The

Editorial Roundup

* Federal highway money Washington is wrangling about not just the size of the new six- year highway bill but how the money will be allocated among the states. The so-called "donor" states - those who send more gas-tax money to Washington than they get back, generally the more-populous states - are supposedly serious this time about demanding their "fair" share.

Lay Case Is a Drop in Sea of Corporate Corruption

The widely televised indictment and arraignment of the handcuffed Enron CEO Ken Lay - one of George W. Bush's closest friends and funders - should not lull anyone into thinking that this is anything but a limited move against corporate crime in an ocean of still-at- large corporate criminals. With trillions of dollars stolen or drained away from small investors, pension-holders and workers, this corporate crime wave receives less Justice Department enforcement money than the cost of an annual...

Aggravated Berglery

Is this how Sandy Berger conducted himself while national security adviser under Bill Clinton? Stuffing highly classified documents in his jacket and pants and socks and spiriting them out of the office - and then "losing" some of them? These things he did in preparation for testimony to the Sept. 11 commission.

'Girlie-Men' Insults

The left is fit to be tied over California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's remarks that state legislators who don't own up to serving special interests, instead of the public interest, are "girlie men." At a public rally in Los Angeles over the weekend, the GOP governor blamed Democrats for delaying the state budget by catering to special interests. "If they don't have the guts to come up here in front of you and say, 'I don't want to represent you, I want to represent those special interes...

Life in Prison

Downtown Looked Pitiful for Fourth

Ever since I came to Augusta I have heard the laments of the downtown business owners. They have blamed the mall, the strip centers and teenagers for their lack of business. The business owners have neglected to blame the obvious reason for the depressed area: themselves. The general lack of enthusiasm, courtesy and ennui of the downtown clerks have surprised me in the past, but recently I became infuriated. I had out-of-town guests for the long July Fourth weekend. After the fireworks were ...

Writer Overlooks Moore's Bias

Diane K. Smith's letter ("Moore has the facts, but editorial did not," July 8), claims that the media, including The Chronicle, have not engaged in "unbiased reporting" with Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. What a joke! Is she claiming that Moore's film is unbiased? Even the most leftist national movie critics make no such laughable contention.

Free Health Care Doesn't Mean Freedom

Let's start out by not quibbling with America's socialists' false claim that health-care service is a human right that people should have regardless of whether they can pay for it or not and that it should be free. Before we buy into this socialist agenda, we might check out just what happens when health-care services are "free." Let's look at our neighbor to the north - Canada. The Fraser Institute, a Vancouver, B.C.-based think tank, has done yeoman's work keeping track of Canada's socializ...

New Plan Needed for Disruptive Pupils

Your recent editorial "Strengthening schools" (July 3) praises the change in Georgia law that purports to allow teachers more authority in removing disruptive students from the classroom. While no educator can disagree with the message behind this legislation, the law as written only complicates matters for our best teachers. "Disruptive" students are defined very differently depending on the teacher. Skilled, master teachers know that proactive and preventive measures, and a well-defined cla...