The Cortez Journal

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• ‘Terrorism’ debate doesn’t help

The bomb explosions at the Boston Marathon were a form of terrorism, by most definitions of the term. The devices that went off near the finish line Monday were obviously designed to harm innocent people, and also to create chaos and fear among the broader public.

Yet simply denouncing the incidents as terrorism, or demanding that others...

• Keep student loan rates low

Paying off student loans takes a backseat to other expenses when a college graduate is unemployed or underemployed. Ask any barista with a master's degree. The high-interest rates help explain what can be a double-digit student loan default rate, depending on the type of college. Borrowers recognize that wages are flat, inflation low, the interest...

• Silly snits

In important legislative news this past week from our nation's capital, we learn U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert filed a budget resolution that would keep President Barack Obama from playing golf until the president restores tours of the White House.
Oh, brother.
And that exclamation of frustration is aimed at Gohmert and Obama.

• What a concept: Talking it over

So this is what it has come down to: A U.S. president speaking on the phone or having dinner with lawmakers of the opposing party is a news story - not just any news story, but a BIG news story.
"President woos GOP to seek broad deal," trumpeted Thursday's front-page headline in The Wall Street Journal.

• Why are they still in charge?

We are a nation divided, but not nearly as much as many would have us believe.
Which raises a question.
If most of us live in the valley between the left and the right, why are we run by the fringe? If so many have made a conscious decision not to be sullied by their mud, why - how - are they still in charge?

• Native nicknames are hard to justify

The complaint filed last week by the Michigan Department of Civil Rights asking the U.S. Department of Education to bar the use of Indian nicknames and imagery by Michigan high schools is a classic case of government overreaction, an attempt to use legal brute force to solve a problem best addressed by dialogue. But while this isn't one of...

• A better incentive: No deal, no break

Congress likes to impose draconian consequences - the fiscal cliff, sequestration, national default - on itself, and unfortunately on the rest of us as well, for failing to do what it's supposed to do.

• Unbiased research can contribute to gun debate

As critics begin dissecting the Obama administration's ideas on gun control, one refrain is certain to surface: There is no research connecting problem A, say how many gun show guns end up in the hands of felons, to solution B, say requiring background checks for gun show sales.

• The anticipatory pause in the 'fiscal cliff' cartoon

Americans might be wondering if they are stuck in a Looney Toons cartoon. We technically went over the fiscal cliff at the start of 2013, but just like Daffy or the Road Runner, we've yet to begin our descent. We are in that part of the cartoon where the victim hovers in midair, quizzically looking around and waiting for the next calamity.

• Piping water to the West

For years, upriver and downriver interests have argued over use of Missouri River water. Now a third option looms that could confound the issue further: diversion of water to parched Western states by way of a pipeline.