Economic Issues

Buoyed by an NAACP convention that bolstered his support, the Rev. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. says he will reach out to youth and stress economic issues in guiding the Baltimore-based civil rights group through the rest of 1994.Today Dr. Chavis, the NAACP's executive director, is to lead a South Carolina rally to protest the flying of the Confederate battle flag above that state's Capitol dome.The protest exemplifies the militant stance he has adopted in recruiting young blacks to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

No political party enjoys losing an election, but a healthy party reacts to defeat - after a suitable period of grieving - by trying to figure out what went wrong. That's what Democrats did in the late 1980s after a string of failed presidential campaigns, and the process led to the election of Bill Clinton, a moderate Southern governor. And that's what many Republicans are trying to do now, after the defeat of Mitt Romney in November. They're pondering what went wrong and how the party needs to change.

SILVER SPRING -- Patrick J. Smith, the Montgomery County lawyer who ran Paul E. Tsongas' victorious Maryland Democratic presidential primary race in 1992, last night officially kicked off his campaign for state attorney general."

So, if I understood her correctly, St. Mary's College History Professor Christine Adams is saying that if the truth be known women value "jobs" over parenting, and the fulfillment of such values is just not possible if women are not in control of their bodies ("For women, reproductive rights are economic issues," Sept. 18). Control, in her opinion, is that women must have the sole elective right to terminate their pregnancies to avoid being discriminated against and bullied by societal laws and mores.

PEORIA, Ill. -- Talks between Caterpillar Inc. and the United Automobile Workers broke down yesterday after four days, failing to settle a seven-month strike.The government's top mediator, John Calhoun Wells, called off negotiations in Louisville, Ky., after the company rejected the union's economic proposal, --ing hopes of a settlement to the manufacturer's longest-running labor dispute.Peoria, Ill.-based Caterpillar said the company was "misled" into believing that the union would present a proposal that would allow it to better compete with overseas rivals.

CONVENTIONAL wisdom tells us pocketbook issues are keenly important to voters, and financial experts have flooded investors with tips on structuring their portfolios based on who wins the White House. This election season, both of those assumptions are under fire. Economic issues have taken a back seat to terrorism and the war in Iraq in several voter polls. An Oct. 9 Gallup Poll found that a third of voters believe the economy will improve or worsen regardless of who wins the presidency.

No political party enjoys losing an election, but a healthy party reacts to defeat - after a suitable period of grieving - by trying to figure out what went wrong. That's what Democrats did in the late 1980s after a string of failed presidential campaigns, and the process led to the election of Bill Clinton, a moderate Southern governor. And that's what many Republicans are trying to do now, after the defeat of Mitt Romney in November. They're pondering what went wrong and how the party needs to change.

Washington -- WHATEVER you think of the specifics, the proposal of the National Commission on Children for a $1,000-per-child tax credit is just the kind of thing the Democratic Party needs to wage an effective campaign against President Bush. The same can be said of the proposal by Senate Democrats for making health insurance universally available. And the same can be said of the plan advanced by Sen. Albert Gore Jr. for changes in the tax structure to put more of the burden on the wealthy.

It's not fair that 99 percent of the dogs have 1 percent of the bones! Or wait, the other way around! Woof! No matter. Coverage of the Occupy Wall Street protests -- and the waves of imitators that have cropped up nationwide -- have typically focused on the young people camping out in protest of the country's economic issues. But a number of the protesters have brought along some furry support. The four-legged kind are in on this, too. I've seen shots of dogs curled up with their owners on mattressees, of dogs huddling with their protesting people.

Crime now rivals the economy in the eyes of Americans as the single most important problem facing the country, but they are divided over whether Republicans or Democrats are best able to do something about it, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.The sharp rise in concern about crime helps assure that it will be a front-line issue in this election year. But there is also a widespread sense that the country is powerless to deal with it, with most Americans saying they do not expect violence to decline significantly in the next few years.

Sensing, perhaps, that they are losing the public relations battle after Senate candidate Todd Akin's forehead-slapping views on "legitimate rape" and the female body's magical ability to guard against pregnancy, Republicans are trying now to focus on the "real" issues of the economy and jobs, which play to businessman Mitt Romney's strengths, rather than the "side issue" of reproductive rights. Birth control and abortion were non-topics at the recent Republican convention. The GOP argument, in the words of Florida attorney general Pat Bondi, is that women don't care about a party's stance on women's reproductive health: "What women care about are jobs, the economy, the unemployment rate.

It's not fair that 99 percent of the dogs have 1 percent of the bones! Or wait, the other way around! Woof! No matter. Coverage of the Occupy Wall Street protests -- and the waves of imitators that have cropped up nationwide -- have typically focused on the young people camping out in protest of the country's economic issues. But a number of the protesters have brought along some furry support. The four-legged kind are in on this, too. I've seen shots of dogs curled up with their owners on mattressees, of dogs huddling with their protesting people.

After Maryland's highest court upheld the state's ban on same-sex marriage last September, advocates for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community changed their focus to lobbying the General Assembly. They proposed the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act, which would change the state law specifying that marriage must be between a man and a woman. These advocates have their work cut out for them. Last week, a Sun poll showed that only 19 percent of likely Maryland voters support same-sex marriage, compared to 39 percent who favor civil unions instead and 31 percent who oppose any legalization of same-sex unions.

Jodie T. Allen is senior editor at the Pew Research Center. Carroll Doherty is associate director of the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. Here is their assessment of how public opinion shaped events in America last year. Once again, public opinion played a major role in the most important news stories of the year. Some of the strongest 2006 trends in public opinion carried over from previous years - notably, growing concern about the Iraq war and mounting dissatisfaction with the performance of the Republican-controlled Congress.

Angela Merkel, Germany's first female chancellor and head of its Christian Democrats (CDU), is negotiating a policy agenda with her partners in a new government formed after national elections last month, the Social Democrats (SPD). The talks are proving a tough slog. But they should be finished by mid-November, when the two parties' agreed agenda will be announced and the parliament can confirm her as head of government, succeeding the SPD's Gerhard Schroeder. At first glance, Ms. Merkel's position doesn't look strong: During last summer's campaign, she squandered a huge lead, with her party and its Bavarian sister, the Christian Socials (CSU)

It seems as if there would be no question that the U.S. Naval Academy, located in the heart of historic Annapolis and one of its oldest institutions, is part of the city. But legally, the 388-acre academy exists as a separate property outside city boundaries; the federal government owns and administers it. That would change, however, under a bill introduced by Mayor Ellen O. Moyer at a city council meeting Monday night that would make all federal property within the existing city limits a part of Annapolis.

OFFICIALS who enthusiastically worked to promote regionalism in the Baltimore-Washington corridor are leaving office next month, but that doesn't mean cooperative efforts will taper off.Howard County Executive Charles I. Ecker, Harford County's Eileen M. Rehrmann and Anne Arundel County's John G. Gary will be replaced, but their successors -- James Robey, James M. Harkins and Janet S. Owens, respectively -- are apt to be just as interested in regional solutions...

So, if I understood her correctly, St. Mary's College History Professor Christine Adams is saying that if the truth be known women value "jobs" over parenting, and the fulfillment of such values is just not possible if women are not in control of their bodies ("For women, reproductive rights are economic issues," Sept. 18). Control, in her opinion, is that women must have the sole elective right to terminate their pregnancies to avoid being discriminated against and bullied by societal laws and mores.

CONVENTIONAL wisdom tells us pocketbook issues are keenly important to voters, and financial experts have flooded investors with tips on structuring their portfolios based on who wins the White House. This election season, both of those assumptions are under fire. Economic issues have taken a back seat to terrorism and the war in Iraq in several voter polls. An Oct. 9 Gallup Poll found that a third of voters believe the economy will improve or worsen regardless of who wins the presidency.

As the second year of his administration takes shape, a president who responded so forcefully to a surprise attack on America boasts a dismal record on economic issues ranging from business regulation to his handling of the economy. Consider how hollow and halting the president's inaugural words sound today. "Most of our financial laws are the outgrowth of experience and trial, and should not be amended without investigation and demonstration of the wisdom of the proposed changes," he cautioned.