Standards crucial for success
There should be no delay in the implementation of the Common Core. My children deserve the same access to a quality public school education as other kids, and I don't want to see them endure the same...
View ArticleMaureen Dowd: Christie's tenure is so high school
WashingtonHigh school never ends.Chris Christie has given us proof of that, as though we needed it.Still, anyone who clings to high school the way the 51-year-old governor of New Jersey does makes me...
View ArticleEditorial: A nice place not to live?
THE ISSUE:Albany County lets violators of a residency policy off the hook, but keeps the rule.THE STAKES:How about creating a policy that's enforceable, and that everyone can respect? Considering how...
View ArticleCoke's duplicity is the real thing
Conservatives shouldn't be having a fit over Coca-Cola's Super Bowl ad.Conservative commentators and bloggers would have you believe that the Coca-Cola Co. is spitting on the graves of our forefathers...
View ArticleSochi is the wrong place, time, people
Beginning today, the largest and most expensive Winter Olympic Games in history will be held in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia. In the days leading up to the opening ceremonies, our focus would...
View ArticleMichael Brannigan: The quiet, friendly skies
In Jean Paul Sartre's brilliant play "No Exit," three characters confined in a small, sparsely furnished, brightly lit room without windows and mirrors discover they have died and are now stuck with...
View ArticleMaximum effort is needed to raise minumum wage
The following is from a Kansas City Star editorial:In 1968, the federal minimum wage increased from $1.40 an hour to $1.60. Minimum-wage workers have not had it so good ever since.In today's dollars,...
View ArticleEditorial: Rethink school discipline
THE ISSUE:School suspensions have a costly and enduring negative impact on our communities.THE STAKES:The state must provide resources for early intervention if new options are to work. School...
View ArticleDeath penalty is too good for Tsarnaev
So the Justice Department says it will seek to execute Dzhokhar -Tsarnaev if he is convicted of participating in the bombings that killed two young women and a little boy while maiming scores of...
View ArticleAcceptable housing for county's indigent
The closure of the Skylane Motel has received a good deal of press. However, when looking at Colonie motels that house the indigent, we must realize there are two distinct issues.First, one must look...
View ArticleWhat you see depends on your stance
What follows may or may not have actually happened. (I've always wanted to write that at the top of a column.)I read about a woman who was driving to her son's elementary school for show-and-tell with...
View ArticleNotable quotes of the week
"The real world is, if you're going to cut taxes the way we're talking about cutting taxes, you will have to cut services."—Mario Cilento, president of the New York State AFL-CIO."We don't have the...
View ArticleEditorials: Long story short
Taxpayer-funded 'vice' For the third straight year, the state Senate is trying to crack down on welfare recipients' use of public assistance money to buy cigarettes, alcoholic beverages and other...
View ArticleEditorial: Bait, switch, spend, repeat
THE ISSUE:New York diverts special taxes and revenues to pay its routine bills.THE STAKES:What about the reasons that money was raised in the first place? There's an implied contract when people pay...
View ArticleKathleen Parker: Practice what you preach, Mr. President
Washington President Barack Obama gave a lovely speech at the recent National Prayer Breakfast — and one is reluctant to criticize.But pry my jaw from the floorboards.Without a hint of irony, the...
View ArticleMaureen Dowd: Paddy would no doubt be mad as hell
I often wonder what Paddy would think.I wish I could have a pastrami on wry with the late writer and satirist at the Carnegie Deli and get an exhilarating blast of truth about "the atomic, subatomic...
View ArticleThomas Friedman: And now, an ecological time bomb
It was not your usual Holy Land tour, but surely one of the most revealing I've ever had. A team from Friends of the Earth Middle East took me around to see how waste, sewage and untreated water flow,...
View ArticleCasey Seiler: The land of dual toilets
A lot of people will say it's cheap and easy to make fun of the Sochi Olympics, an atrociously planned and executed project undertaken by a one-party, kleptocratic government led by the sort of...
View ArticleWar is not the answer to a peaceful existence
Martin Luther King Jr. Day has passed, but his question remains: How can we improve our potential for peace?Here's one answer: change our education about wars. Question the usefulness of each past...
View ArticleEditorial: When are cuts too deep?
THE ISSUE:With a declining workforce, the state is relying more on overtime. THE STAKES:While it may make for better bottom lines, is the practice putting workers and the public at risk? Governments...
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