Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Opinion

Entries for August 2007

Iceland Stops Whaling for Wrong Reason

August 31, 2007 10:13 AM ET | Erbe, Bonnie |

REYKJAVIK, Iceland—I had just returned from the wind-battered, historic seaside village of Stokkseyri on the north Atlantic when news broke that Iceland has agreed to stop its whale hunt. Why? Because of lack of demand for whale meat.

...continue reading.

Tags: Iceland | environment

Throw the Book at Vick

August 29, 2007 12:30 PM ET | Erbe, Bonnie |

U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson displayed great courage during Michael Vick's guilty plea in federal court, emphasizing that he is not bound by the prosecutors' recommendations to give Vick as short a prison sentence as 12 to 18 months for the Atlanta Falcon's now infamous dog-fighting, dog-torture, and dog-killing activities. Let's hope the judge keeps it up when he hands down the sentence. Federal guidelines allow him to impose a maximum of five years.

...continue reading.

Tags: Vick, Michael | NFL

The Housewife Stereotype Lives On

August 27, 2007 02:07 PM ET | Erbe, Bonnie |

Some people just never give up trying to turn back time. The latest wrinkle comes to us from the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, which is fighting back against "the collapse of the American family" by offering bachelor's degrees "with a concentration in homemaking" to women students only. The idea is to reinforce outdated stereotypical gender roles by training women to become full-time homemakers. The degree equips female students with such skills as cooking, sewing, and child psychology.

...continue reading.

Tags: education | gender

Presidential Hopefuls Talk Religion, Take Two

August 22, 2007 03:21 PM ET | Erbe, Bonnie |

In Sunday's debate on ABC, Sen. Hillary Clinton displayed her prototypical propensity to put licked finger to the wind rather than say what she thinks. This is her signature flaw as a candidate. She can only play it safe and try to offend no one. By so doing, she fails to inspire confidence. Her answer to the religion question was, "I am very dependent on my faith and prayer is a big part of that." Talkin' loud and sayin' nothin.'

...continue reading.

Tags: presidential election 2008 | religion

Presidential Contenders Talk Religion

August 20, 2007 04:10 PM ET | Erbe, Bonnie |

During yesterday's Democratic presidential candidate debate, the most interesting exchange, in this observer's opinion, came in the form of responses to a question on religion. The man who posed the question, Seth Ford of South Jordan, Utah, e-mailed: "My question is to understand each candidates' view of a personal God. Do they believe that, through the power of prayer, disasters like Hurricane Katrina or the Minnesota bridge collapse could have been prevented or lessened?"

The most relevant portions of each of the candidates' responses follow in the order in which they were delivered:

...continue reading.

Tags: politics | presidential election 2008 | religion

Women in Politics

August 17, 2007 03:29 PM ET | Erbe, Bonnie |

We are at a bizarre juncture in American politics where one voting bloc's influence is rising, while that same group's representation among state and federal lawmakers is on a plateau and could start to decline. Female voters are increasingly important to presidential and congressional hopefuls, because women are the majority of voters. In the most recent presidential election, 54 percent of voters were women.

...continue reading.

Tags: politics | gender

Economic Worries Finally Kick In

August 15, 2007 12:43 PM ET | Erbe, Bonnie |

What's taken them so long?

Why have American consumers been so slow to recognize important economic weaknesses? A new Reuters/Zogby poll answers that question, sort of.

...continue reading.

Tags: economy

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About Bonnie Erbe

Bonnie Erbe is a contributing editor at U.S. News & World Report and hosts PBS's weekly news analysis program, To the Contrary with Bonnie Erbe. She also writes a weekly syndicated newspaper column for Scripps Howard News Service.

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