After conservative commentator William Bennett sparked national controversy by suggesting that aborting black babies would reduce crime rates, one scene from the football movie "Varsity Blues" has been running nonstop through my head.

Newly minted star quarterback Jon Moxon is sitting on his girlfriend's porch, discussing the upcoming West Canaan district title game with her. After registering a series of complaints about coach Kilmer to the unfortunate young lady, the girlfriend, not wanting to hear more of it, slaps the new star quarterback with some curt advice: "You want some cheese with that whine?" [Read article]

Moscow

One thing that has become readily obvious in the past week: We have reason for hope. I ended my last column with a rather open-ended plea - "It's time to get serious" - but we can be thankful that getting serious is what the world is doing, albeit at a pace that still invites destruction.

In 2001, Ted Turner and former Sen. Sam Nunn put forward a vision - a vision of a world without the fear of nuclear annihilation wrought by a single individual. They brought forward the fears no one wanted to acknowledge, but they also offered the world a future worth creating. And the world caught on: Two weeks ago, the Nobel Peace Prize was jointly awarded to the International Atomic Energy Agency and its director-general, Mohamed ElBaradei, for its work in preventing nuclear proliferation. [Read article]

Atheism not the omnipotent plight that columnist suggests

As a citizen of the U.S., I take pride in the rights given to us by the Constitution and the liberties we are fortunate to enjoy, with freedom of speech being no exception. I respect Mr. Montgomery's attitude toward religion and atheism ("ACLU, atheism taking aim at the religious"), as I would respect any person courageous enough to present his ideas in a widely read publication. [Read article]